Angry students of the University of Port Harcourt,
Rivers State, on Tuesday invaded Aluu community where four of their colleagues
were killed on Friday.
By the time security operatives restored order to the
troubled community, many houses and cars had been torched and about 30 students
injured.
But the students’ action came with a cost: The UNIPORT
authorities shut the 37-year-old institution indefinitely.
While the community boiled, the National Assembly condemned
the UNIPORT and Mubi Polytechnic killings. The House of Representatives went a
step further by summoning the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar,
over the rising insecurity in the country.
Four second year undergraduates of UNIPORT – Biringa
Lordson of Theatre Arts Department; Ugonna Obuzor of the Geology
Department; Mike Toku of Civil Engineering
Department; and Tekema Erikena -were lynched in Aluu for allegedly
stealing a laptop computer and BlackBerry phone. The lynching was also
videotaped.
Last week, gunmen had also invaded the off campus
hostel of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi with a hit list and butchered
more than 40 students.
A source in Choba told our our
correspondent in Rivers State that irate students who gathered under the
auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Students had barricaded the
East-West Road, vowing not to leave until the UNIPORT Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Joseph Ajienka, addressed them.
Some the students later moved to Aluu and began to
set houses and cars ablaze until security operatives came to disperse
them.
The immediate past student union president, Mr. Rhino
Owhorkire, said that 30 students were injured during the incident that
took place at about 4.30 pm.
Owhokire, who hails from Aluu, stated that he
tried to calm the students and stop them from going ahead to torch the
buildings to no avail.
“I am from Aluu and I tried my best to calm them down
and stop them from burning houses . The initial plan was for them to make
bonfire on the road and not to burn houses,” he said.
NANS Treasurer, South East and South-South, Mr.
Iyere Onono, urged government to address the grievances of the students.
As the tension rose, the management of the
university ordered the immediate closure of the university to forestall
the breakdown of law and order on the campus.
Its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Williams Wodi, who
spoke with The PUNCH on the telephone, said, “The
University of Port Harcourt has been shut down indefinitely and students have
been told to vacate their hostels until normalcy returns to the institution. We
will reopen when normalcy returns.”
Reps summon IG
In Abuja, the House of Representatives
ordered the Inspector-General of Police, to appear before its Committee
on Police Affairs to explain what he had done so far to contain the wave of
violent crimes in the country.
The resolution followed a motion of urgent national importance
moved by the member representing Mubi-North/South/Maiha Federal Constituency of
Adamawa State, Mr. Abubakar Wambai.
Wambai complained that up till Tuesday (yesterday), the
killers of the polytechnic students had not been identified.
Besides summoning the IG, the House directed its
Committee on Police Affairs to visit Mubi and assess the situation.
The Chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Mr.
Jerry Manwe, recalled that Mubi used to be a peaceful town where commercial
activities flourished.
“Let us set up a committee to visit Mubi so that we can
have a report on what really happened,” he stated