SAN FRANCISCO, August 05, (THEWILL) – Workers of the College of Education, now Tayo Akpata University of Education, Ekiadolor, clashed with security officers at Edo Government House in Benin, during a peaceful protest over 11 months of unpaid salaries.
A source who asked not be named told the THEWILL that the clash occurred when security at the gate to the government house joined with workers of the state Public Safety and Works Volunteer (PUWOV) Scheme and the State Traffic Management Agency (ESTMA) tried to prevent the protesters from getting close to the gate.
The protesting college workers however put up resistance by forcefully pushing back the barricade put up by the security personnel.
Mr Fred Omonuwa, President, College of Education Academic Union (COASU) who led the protest said, “we are law abiding people and will never take laws into our hands’’.
Earlier, the commissioner for education, Mr Jimoh Ijegbai debunked the claims by the protesters of being owed salaries by the government. He allegedly linked the genesis of the agitation by the workers to the policies of former Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, who had changed the college to Tayo Akpata University without a clear-cut direction on managing the interest of the workers.
