No fewer than 15 students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology escaped death by a whisker after an accident involving them and an alleged rapist.

It was gathered that the accident happened when the students were taking the suspect to the police station.

One of the students, Fawole Isreal, told our correspondent that the suspect caused the accident by struggling with the students in the bus.

He said, “On Saturday, there was uproar in the Adenike area of the campus after a notorious armed robber and suspected rapist was caught while breaking into a particular students’ hostel.

“After the union leaders arrived at the scene, they said he should be taken to the police station. On the way, he struggled with them in the bus and that resulted in an accident. The bus tumbled about five times. The students got different degrees of injuries.”

It was learnt that other LAUTECH students got angry when they heard that their colleagues were involved in an accident triggered by the suspect.

To register their displeasure, they protested and paraded the alleged criminal at the Soun of Ogbomoso’s palace, Oba Jimoh Oyewunmi.

The protest was led by the LAUTECH Students’ Union President, Areo Ajibola, and another student, Bolarinwa Sheriffdeen.

Ajibola said the protest was to register the grievances of students against the frequent criminal activities in the university.

He said, “With the intervention of our respected school authorities, the aggrieved students and sympathisers were calmed, but they refused to hand over the man to the police. We ensured that the suspect was taken to the Soun’s palace. On getting to Iyana Owode, a police barricade obstructed and redirected our initial destination to Owode Ogbomoso Police Station. The police assured us that justice would be done.”

A top management staff in LAUTECH confirmed the incident, saying “everything is now under control.”