The Registrar of the university, Ajiroba Oke, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.
The management of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State, has suspended an ongoing first-semester examination over the rape of some female students of the institution by suspected robbers.
The university said the decision was in response to the request by the institution's students' union leaders to stage an awareness campaign against rape and other social issues both with the campus and the university's host communities.
The Registrar of the university, Ajiroba Oke, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.
"We suspended the examination due to the students' request. We also realised that so many students have been traumatised by the incident. We gave them a day off to allow them to be stabilised and to be in the right state of mind to prepare for the examinations," Mr Oke said.
Rape incident
The regsitrar confirmed that four female students of the university who off-campus were attacked and violently abused in the early hours of Tuesday. He said the victims were subsequently hospitalised.
Ogun State Deputy Governor, Naimot Oyedele, had earlier on Wednesday confirmed the incident in a post on her verified Facebook page.
Mrs Oyedele said she visited the four female students who were 'brutally' raped by attackers in their residence.
Mrs Oyedele wrote: "I have visited the girls who are now being cared for and given the necessary support to heal from their trauma at the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) at OSUTH (Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital).
"Ensuring the safety and well-being of our students is of utmost importance and I subsequently had a crucial meeting with the management and students of TASUED. I was joined by the Ogun State Commissioner for Police, Mr Abiodun Alamutu, and the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, where we discussed concrete steps to bolster security measures and foster a safe environment on campus and the adjacent host community."
Students' union president speaks
In a telephone interview, the university's students' union president, Akintagun Hammed, said the incident happened in Abawapa community in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
"We raised an alarm of the incident to the school authorities, the commissioner of police, the deputy governor of the state, Noimot Oyedele, and we have all had a meeting demanding security for the lives of the university students. The affected students were taken to the state general hospital in Ijebu Ode before they were later transferred to OSUTH in Sagamu," he said.
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Attacks on Nigerian institutions
Nigerian academic institutions have been challenged with increasing insecurity and attacks in recent years, posing a serious threat to the safety of staff and students.
These attacks are not isolated incidents but are part of a broader pattern of violence that has affected the larger Nigerian society.
HumAngle, an online media platform that is focused on security issues, had reported that several Nigerian universities have been under attack across all regions in the country, with cases ranging from sexual violence in the South-west to the abduction of students by bandits in the North-west.
