Another polytechnic was attacked in Adamawa State yesterday. Two students were critically injured.
The attack came barely three days after the murder of no fewer than 40 students in the commercial town of Mubi.
Relations of some of the victims were yesterday making plans to bury them.
The town remained desolate as students of the Federal Polytechnic, which was the worst hit by the killings, the Adamawa State University and the School of Health Technology, have vacated the town. The institutions have been shut down indefinitely.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) urged President Goodluck Jonathan to go beyond mere condemnation of the killings.
Adamawa State Police spokesman Ibrahim Mohammed, who said arrests had been made, declined to give the number of those arrested so as not to “jeopardise investigations”.
He said the police were working on the possibility that the killings could be linked to cult activities among students since they took place barely three days after an acrimonious student union government election at the polytechnic.
Yesterday, the Adamawa State Polytechnic in the state capital, Yola, was under siege by hoodlums, the rector said.
Professor Abdullahi Bobboi urged law enforcement agents to quickly protect the students.
He said the school came under attack from some hoodlums allegedly led by “Abdul Black”, whom, he said was believed to have gained access into the polytechnic complex through the Jimeta Police Barracks.
Bobboi said two students were lying critically ill at the Yola Specialist Hospital, as a result of injuries sustained from the attack by the hoodlums.
He lamented the incessant incursions into the institution by hoodlums, drug peddlers and miscreants through the breached fence the institution is sharing with the police barracks.
“We have complained again and again, time without number, to the police authorities in Yola, to intervene, as the security breach is now reaching an alarming rate”, the rector said.
CAN advised the President to ensure that the perpetrators of the killings are fished out.
The association pleaded with the National Assembly to speed up the passage of the anti-terrorism bill and “introduce clauses that will discourage those with penchant for murder, bombing and other terrorist activities”.
According to a statement in Abuja by its General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Musa Asake, CAN said: “It is with a heavy heart that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) received the news of the killing of over 40 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State University and the School of Health Technology on the night of the Independence Day.
“After a careful study of the various reports on the issue, coupled with the latest information that there is currently a stampede of students and lecturers who have taken advantage of the free period preceding the curfew imposed by the state government to flee the institutions, CAN vehemently condemns the barbaric act of the gunmen.
“It commiserates with families who lost their loved ones, students and authorities of the affected institutions. CAN rejects the theory of election dispute as responsible for the massacre of over 40 students, having regards to the manner it was reportedly carried out. It believes that the reason is phoney and that such a theory, arrived at in haste, can only serve to shield the real culprits and cover up their motives.
“We are, however, consoled by the directive of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, that security agencies should ‘promptly arrest’ the killers of the students. But CAN is of the view that the Federal Government should go beyond this directive and ensure that those caught are made to face the full weight of the laws of our land. It is unacceptable to CAN that students whose parents have spent fortunes on their education would be cut down by some elements in the society whose trademark is blood and sorrow.
“It is gratifying that some arrests have been made by the Police. We call on the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force to ensure that those arrested are the real culprits so that the innocent would not suffer for the sins of villains like the gunmen. The police should not arrest those fleeing in the name of making a breakthrough. Security agencies must fish out the gunmen and there should be no cover-up.
“CAN believes in the oneness of Nigeria, in accordance with her secular status, and would, therefore, kick against any divisive actions of groups or individuals. It is for this reason that we call on all men and women of goodwill in Nigeria to join the government to fight what may snowball into a religious or ethnic war on account of the siege.”
Gombe State Government has evacuated 360 of its citizens studying in various institutions in Mubi, Adamawa, following the killings.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students, accompanied by policemen, arrived at the Ministry for Higher Education headquarters, Gombe, yesterday.
They later left for their various local government areas.
The President of Gombe State Students Association, Federal Polytechnic Mubi chapter, Mr Emmanuel Abel, told NAN that the problem started 10 p.m. on Oct. 1.
He said students were reading in the classrooms when they heard gunshots at Students off-Campus Villa (Hostel) in Tudun Wada area of the town.
Abel added that two students of Gombe State origin were among the dead, adding that one sustained serious injuries.
Three other students, Matthew Ilifu, Dije Mamman and Albert Samuel, who also narrated their experiences during the attack, in separate interviews with NAN, urged the government to find lasting solution to the security challenges in the country.
