BY EMMANUEL SHEBBS

The 26th day of August 2011 is a day that has carved a niche for itself in the history of University of  Calabar, UNICAL. It was a day when a crop of the students’ population from the famous Malabo Republik Students Hostel, came out for a massive protest on the streets of UNICAL, demonstrating, rioting and at the end of the day, damaged properties worth millions of naira, according to the school management’s analysis.

The ugly incident started at around 8:30pm when a group of unknown gunmen entered the Hall Four, male hostel, stole some properties like laptops and phones belonging to the students at gun point. On their way out, the unknown gunmen, strongly suspected to be cultists, shot  a student, Chima Agbai, a 400 level student of Public Administration while he was on his way back from a crusade programme which held off camp,  Bible in hand.

These two ugly incidents coupled with the blackout occasioned by the malfunctioning of the  UNICAL generator, made the students who were already angry at the increment in  school fees, to embark on a demonstration. The minor demonstration later culminated to a riot which lasted through the night till the next morning, 27th August, when a troupe of armed policemen sent the students packing from the hostels following the order by the school management. The students who were initially sent home for two weeks ended up staying at home for six months.

The memories of the August 26, 2012 saga came alive last Sunday as students used every means to reflect on it. Text messages were sent around by the students starting from the early hours of the day, 12:00 midnight, marking the beginning of the remembrance.

One of the messages sent to one of our correspondents read: ‘’Today (August 26th) marks the one year anniversary of the Unical riot, aka Unical war. May the soul of our faithful Malabite who fell during the struggle find rest in the bosom of our Lord. Amen. Long live Malabo Republik, Long Live Unical, Aluta Continua, Victoria Acerta”.

The high point of the informal remembrance was Chima Agbai, a victim of the 26th August attack by the unknown gunmen. Many people believed it was his death that resulted to the mass protest.

Chima Agbai before his death was the president of Ohafia Students in UNICAL. He was the  only Presidential aspirant for the 2011 election of the National Association of Abia State Students which was to hold a week before his death. Chima was a cherished figure for the Igbo students in the university and also the palace Prince of the Igbo Kingdom on the campus. His sudden departure was like a proverbial fall of an Iroko tree at a time the hunters needed it as a roadmap.

To mark his remembrance, his picture was drawn on cardboard papers and pasted at some strategic places in the school, uploaded on Facebook by friends, and also canonized by some students on their 2GO profiles.

A text message sent to his members by the President of Federation of Igbo Students (FIS) reads: ‘’Great Nigerian students, Umu Igbo (Igbos), today (26th August) marks one year since our beloved brother, Chief Chima Agbai (Amuma) was shot in cold blood in Malabor and the brutal Unical riot by Nigerian Students! Join FIS Unical Chapter on Facebook today to mourn his departure. Long Live FIS! Long live Unical! Long live National Association of Nigerian Students! Aluta Continua! ”.

26th August 2011 was a lesson for some students. Promise Iyak from the Faculty of Management Science has this to say: ‘’the six months break was an unexpected punishment from the management. Less than ten percent of the UNICAL students committed an offence and yet all the students were punished”.

Another student, Idongesit Anim said that ‘’it is a past incident but our memory cannot be bored with its gory clips. It helped us to see that the new management was not afraid of the students or were not concerned  about the consequences of the punishment imposed on the student.

Glory Essan, 2nd year, Education Administration and Planning said: ‘’the students should obey the school management and be respectful. On the other hand, the management should have sympathy when taking certain decisions especially those that will affect the entire students”, she concluded.