The Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic in Ede, Osun, has modified 27 students’ expulsion to suspension for the 2023/2024 academic session.
The council also pardoned four students who had previously been suspended by the school administration.
According to NAN, the school management expelled 27 pupils and suspended eight others on July 27 due to their involvement in the May 9 violent protest in the institution.
Some students had protested against the arrest of their colleagues by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Owode, a community near the institution.
During the protest, the Polytechnic Staff Club was attacked and several vehicles were damaged by the students.
At its first meeting on August 21, the council formed an ad hoc committee to investigate the expulsion and suspension of the students.
Prof. Taiwo Olaiya, Chairman of the Governing Council, told a news conference on Friday at the institution’s grounds that the affected students had been pardoned based on the ad hoc committee’s recommendations.
Olaiya further stated that the previous ban on student unions in the institution has been lifted.
He said that the school management had been directed to constitute faculty representatives who would see to the affairs of the union till the end of the current semester.
Olaiya also said that the council also approved the recommendation of the committee which mandated all the students of the institution to pay N10,000 damages to serve as a deterrent.
“The council ratified the recommendation of the committee, and the resolution is that the expulsion of the 27 students has been converted into suspension for the 2023/2024 academic session.
“For those who were earlier suspended, they have been fully pardoned with a warning not to involve themselves in such acts again.
“Also, the council has lifted the ban placed on students union activities in the institution following the protest.
“The polytechnic management has been directed to constitute a body of the faculty representatives that will hold forth, the union position between now and the end of the semester.”
“Finally, all students of the institution are to pay N10,000 each as damages to serve as a deterrent against such ugly incident in the future,” he said.