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Ekiti State
governor, Kayode Fayemi, has appealed to the youth in Ikole community
not to engage in violence over the relocation of a federal university
from the town. He urged them to allow the Regent of the town, Jumoke
Mshelbwala, who fled in the heat of last Thursday’s protest to return to
the palace.

The governor said he
will personally seek an audience with President Goodluck Jonathan in
Abuja over the relocation of the federal university from Ikole Ekiti to
Oye-Ekiti.

The governor who
spoke during his visit to the families of protesters who were shot dead
by the Police in the wake of the protests, affirmed that his
administration has not rescinded its decision to make Ikole the home of
the new university.

Mr. Fayemi said he intends to make that position clear to the president.

He added that he was
sure that the president whom he described as a “believer in fairness
and the rule of law” will resolve the crisis without being biased. The
announcement of Oye as the site of the new University on a Federal
Government-owned electronic media, three months after Ikole had been
pencilled down as the site sparked off a peaceful protest by youths in
Ikole local government area.

However, the
protest was disrupted when policemen shot and killed two of the
demonstrators leading the protesters to set the Idi-Ose police station
ablaze.

The governor also
disclosed that the council of traditional rulers in Oye Local Government
Area has thrown its weight behind the choice of Ikole as the site of
the university.

The Ekiti State governor asked the Federal Government to allow the
state decide the appropriate site for the institution, adding that
although both Oye and Ikole are parts of the state, the state government
considers the choice of Ikole as “more appropriate”.