The protesting students.
By Jimog Bolaji
Oyo State is tensed, as the students’ protest rages at Ibadan, the state capital.
The students, who assembled infront of the institution on Tuesday June 30, 2025, matched to the Oyo State government Secretariat against the renaming of the polytechnic by the state government.
The Oyo State government had renamed the institution after a former governor of the state, Omololu Olunloyo.
The displeased students carried placards with different inscriptions, asking Governor Seyi Makinde to rescind his decision and restore the polytechnic to its original name.
The students also urged Makinde to protect the legacy and name of the Polytechnic Ibadan by reversing his decision to name it after the late mathematician as proposed last week during the funeral rites of the late statesman.
The students, led by the President of the Students Union Government (SUG), The Ibadan Polytechnic, Olamide Oladipupo, appealed to the governor to preserve the polytechnic’s legacy embedded in the name it bears across the world.
The Executive Assistant to Government on Security, Sunday Odukoya, who addressed the students, appealed to them to maintain calm.
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On Thursday, June 26, 2025, Makinde renamed The Polytechnic Ibadan after Omololu Olunloyo during the latter’s funeral service held at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Liberty Road, Ibadan.
Dr Victor Olunloyo was the former governor of Oyo State.
Olunloyo, who died on April 6, 2025, was the pioneer principal of the polytechnic, while he also served as governor of Oyo State between October 1 and December 31, 1983.
“Today, we will be giving Baba another honour to immortalise him. He was the first Principal of The Polytechnic, Ibadan; that institution will now be named Omololu Olunloyo Polytechnic, Ibadan,” the governor had stated.
According to Makinde, Olunloyo lived an eventful life and that his attainment and personality could not be summarised in one sentence, as he was a scholar, a statesman, a technocrat, a lover of culture, and a man of deep conviction.
The renaming of educational universities by federal and state governments after certain personalities has raised dust in recent times with present and past students of the schools demanding the reversal of such action.
The renaming of the University of Abuja as the Yakubu Gowon University and the renaming of the University of Lagos as the Moshood Abiola University were met with serious pushbacks.
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