The students’ crisis at Fidel Polytechnic Gboko has ended, but, the management is accusing the host community of colluding with students to unleash mayhem on the 15-year-old institution. The allegation is being denied. Besides, the students are angry that the authority has imposed a levy on them for August crisis, which they claim was avoidable, UJA EMMANUEL from Makurdi reports:
Who were the culprits behind the destruction of property valued at N1.2 billion at Fidel Polytechnic Gboko, Benue State?
While police say they are still investigating to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the mayhem which occurred on Tuesday August 23, management of the institution is already pointing accusing fingers at the students, in collaboration with some elements from the host community.
“The students with external collaborators regrouped to unleash mayhem that left our school in ruins,” said the proprietor Rev. Father Chris Utov in a briefing last week.
Established in 2001, Fidel Polytechnic is located in Gboko town, the ancestral headquarters of the Tiv. It is the first privately owned polytechnic in the north.
Nearly two months after the student-induced crisis, the institution has finally decided to break its silence. Utov’s accusation however does not seem to go down well with the host community, which had absolved their kinsmen of any involvement in the mayhem.
Going down memory lane, Utov recalled how the mayhem was ignited by students who failed to pay their school fees and were requested by management to show their permit before they would be allowed to participate in the examination.
He said when some of the defaulters threatened a showdown, the school management promptly drafted in the police to forestall any uprising. At the same time, the school was shut down officially and students asked to vacate the premises, Utov explained.
Students have, however, shot back, accusing management of being impatient with the defaulters. Some students claimed that some debtor students had rushed to pay their tuition on the day of the examination, only to be disallowed from writing the exam on the ground that management would only accept receipts issued by the bursary unit of the institution rather than mere bank tellers.
Some students who spoke with The Nation said rather than nip the potential uprising in the bud, police presence escalated it, as the security agents attempted to force the aggrieved students out of campus.
Utov, who put the value of the lost items at about N1.2 billion, appealed to government to fish out the perpetrators as his entire life savings which he invested in the school had gone down the drain.
To add salt into injury, Utov, who described the damage as ‘mind boggling,’ lamented that such occurence is regular among his Tiv kinsmen who often get envious of the achievements of fellow kinsmen.
Another school of thought holds it that the development could be a result of ethnic rivalry. For instance, Utov hails from Gaambe – Tiev Logo Local Government Area of Benue- North East Senatorial Zone, while the polytechnic is sited in Gboko, Benue- North West Senatorial Zone, which also serves as the ancestral headquarters of the Tiv. So, Utov , despite his priestly calling, might still be regarded as a visitor in Gboko because of his origin from another Tiv lineage .
Utov said he was out of the country when the protest that left one person dead occurred.
The Police have also denied the allegation, that their presence on the campus inflamed tempers, describing the protesters as unruly.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Benue State Police Command, Moses Yamu, a DSP, told The Nation on Tuesday that the police applied ‘minimum force’ in line with such operation involving students.
He accused the students of provoking the police by hurling stones at them and injuring some officers in the process, adding that the police exercised utmost caution in handling the riot.
Utov said following the official closure of the school, students later assembled opposite the main gate where policemen were stationed, overpowered them, gained entry into the school and destroyed properties.
“They looted,vandalised and set ablaze 500 computers from e- library, resource centre, office, technology laboratory, computer laboratory, as well as nine cars,” Utov a Catholic priest, lamented.
“Other property completely vandalised or razed by the rampaging students included the administrative block, science laboratory, mass communication studio, office of theproprietor, and school canteen,” Utov noted, adding that the protesters also stole cows and fish from the school pond and ranch.
The leader of the host community Chief Amande Uza, absolved the community of complicity in the mayhem.
Speaking with The Nation, Uza said both the institution and host community have enjoyed cordial relationship since theschool was established 15 years ago, noting that as the host community, they are the first beneficiary of the institution.
Uza said: “I want to disagree with the claims by the proprietor that a Tiv man hates his kinsman’s progress. We the host community are the greatest beneficiary (of the polytechnic). We enjoy a cordial relationship with the school management and cannot turn around to join the students to set the institution ablaze’’.
Uza continued: “I want to disabuse the mind of the proprietor that some people in our community joined the students to set the school on fire. Infact, we did everything possible to protect the school structures but the number of students overwhelmed us in the same manner they overpowered the police stationed at the gate.
“We regret the setting ablaze of the school because our wives, children and relations are the immediate beneficiaries as they engaged in one business of the other to make ends meet, so we are also losers.”
Uza’s view was reechoed by another resident, Mr. James Iornongu who said two of his houses also serve as hostels for students of the institution.
He noted that generally the economy of the community has experienced a leap since 2001 when the institution was established.
Iornongu condemned the excesses of the students whom he said went beyond their bounds.
He urged parties to be patient while awaiting the outcome of ongoing investigation by security agencies.
The school has since resumed.Nonetheless, to make up for the enormous damage, each students has been taxed N35,200 in addition to signing an undertaking to henceforth be of good behaviour. Some students believe the amount imposed on them is unjustifiable in view of management’s alleged complicity in the whole issue.
A Business Administration undergraduate of the school, who pleaded not to be mentioned, substantiated Uza, saying that students have also enjoyed a harmonious relationship with the school management.
“We have no problem with the teachers or the proprietor,” the source said.
“Being a Catholic priest, he treats us as his children and we see him as a father,” the source added.
On what caused the riots, the source continued: “Majority of the students were worried that they were going to miss the examination and therefore resorted to protest. But the school management brought in the police which escalated the problem leading to the burning down of some structures.”
Another Mass Communication student who also spoke on the condition anonymity said: “The cause of the riots was the refusal of the school management to accept bank teller; instead they insisted on school receipt.
” We paid in the bank and brought bank tellers but the school authorities insisted on school receipts, by then, some of our colleagues were already writing examinations.”
“So some students became angry wondering how could they pay school fees and a common issue of receipt stopped them from writing examination . The students’ contention was that they should be allowed to write examination after showing the bank tellers, and being allowed thereafter to exchange the tellers for receipts.”
Another Mass communication student also lent his voice in confidence.
“We were frustrated in the sense that while the examination was going on and other students were writing, the school was busy with the issues of evidence when they should have put the examinations on hold first, and do a thoroughly screening.”
“We are now paying N35,200 for the damages so who is at a loss” the student asked rhetorically.
Another student believed there might be external forces such as street urchins who took advantage of the crisis to loot property as could be seen in the disappearance of the school’s cows and fish.
Still speaking on behalf of the police, Yamu said some suspects have been arrested and investigation is still ongoing to find out those behind the crisis and their level of involvement.
He declined further information on the number of suspects arrested, as well as the identity of the deceased during the protest. Nevertheless, Yamu assured that very soon, the report would be ready.
