Three feared dead in Makurdi varsity clash

BY PETER DURU, MAKURDI

Three students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi were Monday feared dead following a violent clash between rival cult groups of which scores of the female students were raped and many injured.

Vanguard Newspaper gathered from an eyewitness who craved anonymity that the crisis broke out at the institution Monday evening after some students residing in one of the private hostels (off campus) near the school engaged each other in a fight for an undisclosed reason.

The source stressed that minutes later, the crisis escalated into the main campus of the institution as rival cult groups engaging each other in a deadly battle for supremacy using dangerous weapons.

According to the eyewitness who is also a student, no fewer than three students were hacked down in the ensuing fighting with scores of female students raped in the open by fellow students while many sustained injuries.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate development forced students, living in private hostels around the institution, into the streets Tuesday in protest of the crisis.

The angry students in their protest barricaded the main entrance of the institution demanding that the management of the school provide them enough security to ensure their safety.

However, efforts by the authorities to calm down the protesting students was resisted and they became violent in their protest

As  they  head towards the Vice Chancellor’s office they were stopped by security personnel but the angry students went wild, wielding dangerous weapons at staffers of the school when they learnt that some of them were invited for interrogation at the school’s security office.

At the time of filing this report, some staff of the school who spoke to Vanguard said they had to flee to safety when they discovered that the situation was gradually escalating and the students were bent on unleashing havoc on each other and any staff caught.

Meanwhile, speaking to newsmen in a telephone conversation, Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Joseph Fanafa denied that any student of the institution was killed in the mayhem stressing that he did not see any corpse.

Fanafa maintained that the only student who was injured in the clash was recupirating at the University clinic adding that the stories about some students being raped or killed were untrue.

Consequently, the Management of the institution has directed that the students who were writing their semester examinations should proceed on break till further notice.

In a statement signed by the the University’s Registrar, Mrs. Cecelia Ohemu, the students were advised  to vacate their hostels with immediate effect in their own interest.