President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Dist. Comr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, has condemned the suspension of students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) following a peaceful protest.

According to him, any management that chooses this path, denying students their fundamental rights and subsequently punishing them for exercising those rights, has only demonstrated oppressive and authoritarian tendencies.

Afeeze noted that the right to peaceful protest is a constitutionally guaranteed right under Sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which protect freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. He said any attempt to suppress or punish citizens or students for engaging in a peaceful and lawful protest raises serious concerns about the violation of these fundamental rights.

"As the President of NANS, saddled with the responsibility of representing the collective interests of Nigerian students, I condemn in the strongest possible terms this unjust suspension. No student should be suspended or expelled for exercising their fundamental rights. Members of ASUU are not sacked for going on strike; why then should any student be suspended or expelled for expressing their grievances?

"Moving forward, at my directive as the Grand Commander of Nigerian Students, I enjoin the Zonal Coordinator of NANS Zone D and the Joint Campus Council Chairman of Oyo State to immediately wade into this matter. As an organisation, we cannot stand idly by while this injustice, victimisation, and oppression persist," he said.

The NANS President called on the management of LAUTECH to immediately reverse the suspension of the students, who only aired their grievances in a lawful and acceptable manner. He warned that the continued insistence on the unlawful suspension would compel the leadership of NANS to relocate its Secretariat to LAUTECH.