Rape and robbery cases are on the rise at the Benue State University (BSU) in Makurdi. Students are living in fear as rapists and cultists go on the rampage. The security unit appears helpless, reports MSONTER ANZAA .
Within two weeks, after he began his medical programme at the Benue State University (BSU), Gabriel Idoko was robbed twice.
The first happened on his first day in school, said Gabriel, who declined to give his real name.
“I was coming back from class and I saw some people arguing with my roommate who is also a 100-Level student. I stopped to find out what was going on. They were armed with knives; they told me to give them everything I had in my wallet. It was N1,900. They ordered us to move to a corner and told us that they were members of the Black Axe cult group. They said they control the hostel and Wurukum area, threatening to kill us if we shouted,” Gabriel, who described the incident as a “welcome-to-campus package”, narrated.
The following week, Gabriel was robbed again. “I did not have any money with me this time. They asked me to remove my SIM Card and bring my phone. They told me to bring N1,000 later to them if I needed my phone. When I got the money, I called them, but they said I should forget about the phone because they could not remember my face again,” he said.
In the last three months, the school has been under a siege of sorts, raising fear among students whose academic pursuits are being threatened.
Last March, a 100-Level student of Educational Foundation was dispossessed of his money by three hoodlums as he headed for his off-campus residence opposite the second gate of the university. The incident happened behind the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, where many students live.
CAMPUSLIFE investigation showed that the hoodlums operate in the open. Students living in Wurukum area know them, but they are afraid of reporting them for fear of being killed. The hoodlums, who are said to be students, dispossess many of their valuables while returning from night reading.
A student, who did not give his name, said: “The activities of the cultists have turned to a normal thing on the campus. If you are passing by, you need to watch out to greet them; if you don’t, they will attack you on your way back. At times, when somebody greets them, they would say he did not greet them properly. They intimidated one of my classmates. If you are going home, you take a less-valuable phone with you, in case they attack you. Some of them even follow you to your room and insist that you must give them something.”
On why the matter has not been reported to the security unit, Monday Aadonka, said students are terrified of the hoodlums. “If they find out anyone reported them, they will kill the person. The boys are notorious and they will hear everything you say about them. If you say you will pursue them, you are the one to lose because they don’t know why they are in school; so they have all the time to stress your life. We call their hostel a “slaughter house”, but they don’t stay there every day. They sleep around. Half of the people staying in Wurukum are cultists.”
On May 9, two female students of Preliminary Science were attacked by the hoodlums. One was shot on the cheek and could not talk for days. One of the victims, who spoke to this reporter on her sickbed, pleaded that her identity be concealed for security reasons.
She said: “My classmate and I went to read in the school auditorium. When it was 10pm, we left the hall for our hostels. We wanted to pass through the first gate to take a shortcut adjacent to the security office when we saw two guys coming towards us. One of them was putting on a blue shirt and the other wore black. We thought they were going to read on the campus. A few metres away, we heard a bang. We did not know that we had been shot.
“All I could remember was that, I fell on the ground. They took our bags and everything we had with us. It was the Students’ Union Government (SUG) Vice President, who took us to the security office. We were bleeding profusely. I was taken to the school clinic where I stayed for three days. My classmate could not talk for three days. I am yet to get over the incident. We later heard the criminals went to the auditorium to inform students that we had been shot.”
She was not sure if what happened was a robbery or murder attempt. “If it was robbery, the criminals would have approached us and dispossessed us of our valuables, at least, without shooting us. But they did not. They shot us first before taking our bags. We don’t know their motive,” she said.
Students are frequently dispossessed of their valuables in the off-campus hostels opposite the university. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the criminals target students returning to their hotels in the late hours after reading.
However, it is not only off-campus students that are affected. The hoodlums also operate on campus.
Last month, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, a female student was raped around 7:30pm in Lecture Room 10. It was learnt that the incident occurred during a rainstorm. Students that were reading rushed back to their hostels. In the melee, some hoodlums dragged the victim back and raped her in the lecture hall.
A source said: “The victim was shouting for help but no one could go to her rescue because of the rain. The handkerchief and the tissue paper the rapists used littered the floor.”
Another victim, a 200-Level student of Accounting, was allegedly raped in the Staff Quarters, where she lives with her uncle.
On May 26, Block F in the Technical Female Hostel was invaded by hoodlums at 3am. They robbed occupants in Rooms 1 to 3 of laptops and phones. The incident led to a protest by the girls, prompting a visit by the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Charity Angya.
“The VC was very bitter, because she was not told about the cases of rape and robbery on the campus. She brought an engineer to install iron doors in the hostel. The installation has been going on since then,” an occupant told CAMPUS LIFE.
Three days later, Block D Hostel was attacked. Occupants, however, escaped with their phones and handbags.
Penultimate week, the hoodlums hit Block C in the Technical Female Hostel at 1am.
A 100-Level Mass Communication student, who witnessed the incident, said; “The robbers hid in a bathroom in Block E, which they initially wanted to rob. But the occupants were still awake and making noise. So, the robbers left and went to Block C. Two of them came from the back door and the other two from the entrance at the common room.
“A student caught them in the common room and rushed back to her room. She used her cupboard to block the door. The doors are not strong; one can kick them open. They tried pushing her door open but they could not, so they moved to other rooms. Another girl saw the two from the back door and blocked her room’s door with her bunk. She alerted other occupants, screaming “men in the hostel”. Everyone who heard the shout woke up and blocked their doors. Those that were not fast enough were robbed.”
The students said the robbers were armed with knives and guns. They were chased by male students in nearby hostels
It was learnt that distress calls were sent to the school security personnel, but there was no response. The security men came after students chased away the hoodlums.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that no student was raped in the hostel.
“Nobody was raped. They only collected phones and laptops. I don’t know where the rape story came from,” an occupant told our correspondent.
Students are lamenting the security situation, saying it is affecting their academic pursuit.
The Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Armstrong Adejo, declined comment. He told our correspondent to speak with the Registrar.
