By GBENGA OLARINOYE
OSOGBO — Osun State Government has expelled no fewer than 34 students of Ifelodun Grammar School, Kiloru, who are natives of Ilowa in Obokun Local Government Area of the state for their alleged participation in the protest against continuous trial of the Alowa of Ilowa, Adebukola Alli, who is standing trial before an Osogbo High Court for alleged rape of an ex- female corps member.

The students were alleged to have protested on the premises of the state High Court, Osogbo, at a time they were supposed to be in school, an offence which the government said was against the child rights laws of the state.

Officials of the state Ministry of Women Affairs led by the Coordinating Director of the Ministry, Mr Femi Ayedun, who were on inspection visit to the school, were said to have ordered the immediate expulsion of the students until a clearance from the ministry pending the determination of their offence by the ministry.

Findings revealed that officials went to the school to find out the number of students that participated in the protest and discovered that all indigenes of Ilowa who were students of the school were absent from the school on the day the protest was held.

It was gathered that the  officials who went with the pictures of the protesting students met with the students with a view to determining the particular students who participated in the protest but all the students denied knowledge of the protest.

The Principal of the school, Mr Amos Adedeji, who had earlier been invited by the ministry and asked to submit a report on the incident, said officials of the state Ministry of Women Affairs instructed the students to stay off the school until they were ready to tell the truth on their alleged involvement in the protest.

He said: “When officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs got to the school, they gathered all the students and found out that those who were absent from school on the day the protest in Osogbo. The officials made efforts to find out whether or not the students participated in the protest, and when it became obvious that the students were not ready to co-operate with them, they expelled them and asked them to bring their parents to the ministry to get clearance before they can return to the school.”

Right now there is no student from Ilowa in the school. We have been directed not to allow them in the class rooms until they are able to produce clearance duly stamped by the Ministry of Women Affairs.”