Three students of tertiary institutions in Osun State were yesterday injured in a stampede which occurred during a protest at the junction of the state House of Assembly in Osogbo.

Students of the four tertiary institutions owned by the Osun State Government had staged a protest over the continued staying at home as a result of the industrial action embarked upon by their lecturers.

The lecturers were protesting, among other things, the stoppage of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, claiming that the state government had been making pension deductions from their salaries and had refused to remit same to their individual pension fund administrators.

The students were injured in a stampede, which occurred when police fired tear-gas to disperse them as they insisted that they would enter the Assembly to take their complaint to the Speaker.

As early as 8 am, students of the affected institutions stormed Osogbo, the state capital, protesting their continued staying at home.

The protest caused heavy traffic along the popular Gbongan-Osogbo Road preventing the free flow of traffic.

The aggrieved students staged their protest march to the state secretariat already condoned off by security operatives including police and men and officers of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

The police fired tear-gas into the air to disperse the protesting students. It was gathered that four students were arrested by the Police while another three students critically injured are receiving treatment at the hospital.

Speaking during the protest, the President of the National Association of Nigeria Students, Osun axis, Luqman Adekitan, alleged that the police did not allow them to protest before resulting to firing tear gas at them.

He confirmed that three of the students were seriously injured and were receiving treatment in various hospitals in Osogbo,

Reacting to the development, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, said the state government was working tirelessly to ensure normalcy returns to the state’s tertiary institutions.