At least 35 students of the Fakunle Government Secondary School, Osogbo, Osun State, fainted from teargas inhalation which was fired by police officers from Mopol 39 base.
The incident caused commotion among the students and the teachers of the secondary school.
It was learnt that students were already seated in their classes when teargas was fired by mobile policemen who were engaging in the usual morning drill. The school is located across the mobile police station along Ikirun Road.
It was gathered that some students who were hit by the smoke fainted and they were rushed to hospitals.
A teacher who preferred anonymity explained that the private hospital behind the school could not accommodate all the affected students and they were rushed to the Osun State University Teaching Hospital.
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He explained that the school authorities ordered the immediate closure of the school when they noticed that the smoke was becoming unbearable.
Reacting to the incident, Yemisi Opalola, the police public relations officer in Osun State, said the officers did not fire the teargas inside the school but were engaging in their usual morning drills. Opalola apologised to the people that were affected.
“They (police) were just engaging in their morning drills, which involve the use of teargas. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
Arowosafe Olayemi, head of the corporation, Osun Ambulance Service, said: “We moved 11 patients to UniOsun teaching hospital and the others were taken to Spring Hospital close to the school at Aderin. Before we got there, the school authorities already took the students to the private hospital, you know we cannot just disagree with them because the lives of the students are so important to us.”
