There was pandemonium on Tuesday morning in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, as no fewer than thirty-five students of Fakunle Comprehensive High School collapsed and were hospitalised after inhaling teargas fired by the police during a morning drill.
It was gathered that the school, located opposite the 39 Squadron division of the police along the Osogbo-Ikirun road, was affected by teargas blown by the breeze to the students’ classrooms.
It was also gathered that the students were inside the classroom when the tear gas was fired.
A source in the school disclosed, “When the tear-gas attack occurred, many of our students were fainting and we were taking them to the hospital but at a point, many of the students ran to safety, we were forced to close the school for the day.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Adelani Aderinola, through the Information Officer, Roseline Olawuni, said the mobile policemen were holding a memorial exercise in honour of their fallen colleagues in Benue State when they used the tear gas that affected the students.
“They were shooting tear gas which affected the students in the school. However, the matter has been escalated to the Police Commissioner and they have stopped the exercise. The students have been taken to the hospital and most of them have been stabilised.”
The spokesperson of Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, said the police did not fire the tire gas into the school. “We have ordered them to stop the action. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
Speaking with our newspaper, the Head of Corporation, Osun Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (OSEMSAS), Mrs Arowosafe Elizabeth Olayemi, said, “We moved 11 patients to Uniosun and the others were taken to spring hospital, very close to the school at Aderin.
“Before we got there, the school authority already took some of the students to the private hospital. You know we cannot just disagree with them because the lives of the students are so important to us.
“So, we have to agree with them. When the Spring hospital was occupied, we moved the remaining students to Uniosun. We have 11 at Uniosun and the remaining students are at Spring Hospital. In all, about 35 students were rushed to the hospitals, according to the information given to us.
“We were there early enough, within 5 minutes we were there because we have an ambulance close to that place and we have an ambulance at the stadium and you know that place is closer.”
Olayemi added that the school management released the rest of the students to go home “because the more they inhaled that thing, the more the people were fainting. So, I told the principal to release the students to go home so that we can reduce the number.”
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