By Umar Yusuf, Yola

Before the October 1st attack at the Wuro Patuje off campus hostel housing students of the Federal Polytechnic, Adamawa State University and the state School of Health Technology all in Mubi, the sleepy quiet town was already in crisis. Mubi, the commercial nerve centre of Adamawa State had not known peace for the past two years since the emergence of the dreaded Islamist group, the Boko Haram.

Mubi and its environs have witnessed many terrorist attacks, may be due to its proximity and closeness to Borno and Yobe States. The area also shares a common border with the Cameroon Republic, so much so that one hardly differentiates between the people of Mubi emirate and their Cameroonian counterpart owing to cultural affinity, inter trade relations, marriage and other ties.

The city known for its trade, especially illegal importation of petroleum products to the neighbouring Cameroon has witnessed series of curfew imposition due to terrorists attacks. Many lives, among them, prominent indigenes of the area and other businessmen alike have either been killed or maimed by the suspected gunmen.

Notable among the attacks was the one carried out at the Mubi International Cattle Market in September 2011 of which no further than 20 people of the South-East extraction doing business in the market were killed.

Confusion on campus

Since then, series of killings were rampant in the ancient city of Mubi, so much so that a 24 hour curfew was in force when the latest massacre took place. But the question that seems to be unanswered is, who might have killed the harmless students of these tertiary institutions on the day the country was celebrating her 52nd independence anniversary? Was it the suspected gunmen that have laid siege of the town or rival cult groups within these institutions that carried out the heinous attack?

May be security operatives at the end of their investigations would come up openly to tell Nigerians those behind the dastardly act of terminating the lives of these future leaders of this country. The victims, all in their 20s spread across the Federal Polytechnic Mubi and the State School of Health Technology also in Mubi.

When the news of the carnage filtered into the state capital the following day, the Security Service Chiefs in the state, comprising the Army, Airforce, SSS, the Police and other para military bodies relocated to Mubi all in an apparent move to forestall the escalation of the carnage and for on the spot assessment of the killings

. When the team returned to the state capital, they officially confirmed that the unknown gunmen that carried out the attack called out the names of the student victims before shooting them.

Adamawa State Police command spokesman, ASP Mohammed Ibrahim told newsmen immediately on arrival that even as investigation is continuing, there are signs that there may be some internal factors in the killings, but quickly added that “we cannot prove it until we complete our investigations”.

Meanwhile, a security source has observed that the killing of the students would not have been possible without the collaboration of terrorists. While the parents of the slain students have been left to mourn their beloved ones, the affected tertiary institutions have been shut down.

Authorities of the institutions have directed the students to vacate their hostels immediately. The fleeing students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi spoke to Saturday Vanguard of their ordeals as they depart Yola for their various destinations.

Exe Ibiam HND II – Engineering
This is a very sad event in my life; I came to this institution two  years ago and throughout, I had not experienced such a sad day in my life like the one of last Sunday, I was in my room when I heard a sound of gunshots, and at the background, people being shot were screaming, thinking that the security agents were going after those perpetrating security breaches in the town.

I did not  know that those shot by the gunmen were even students living in Wuro Puteji, a surburb of the polytechnic. I came to know that those shot were students on Tuesday, in the morning when I saw corpses of our colleagues being conveyed to the Mubi General Hospital.

Amina Usman, HND
It was around 10pm on Monday, I was with my male colleagues at Wuro Puteji, when some gunmen asked the female students to submit their cellphones to them and we were asked to go quietly into a run for they were not after us, the female students but the males.

The males were asked to lie down and were instantly shot. While we were crying and wailing, the gunmen went into another compound and we heard similar sounds of shots by the gunmen.

Efforts for us to go out of the compound were resisted by the gunmen. It was a sad event in my academic career. I managed to leave Wuro Puteji through a friend who was mobile after which I boarded a vehicle to Yola.

Aisha Hassan, HND II – Business and Mgt
Well, you can see me trying to board a bus to the eastern part of the country. I am among the lucky students that were not stranded but not without hardship. I hate to experience such again in my life.

Ibrahim Olawole, HND II – Electrical
What I can simply say is that the Polytechnic authorities and the government should see to the situation on ground. I am an undergraduate, who was to sit for my last semester exams last Tuesday but for this ugly situation that cropped up. Those of us that are in HND II were being referred to as, corpers in the making because some of us have finished writing our projects. We don’t know when the Polytechnic authorities will call us back to start our exams.

Sunday Akindeji,ND II
What I want to point out is that this is a bad development in the history of this school. Secondly, a number of students leaders, including the chief of Igbos, Lucky, my friend was among those killed.

We had the students’ union government election on Monday, and it was peacefully conducted, but it is unfair to say that the killing was generated by the election. Government should arrest those that killed our colleagues and  make sure that there is peace before we are called back to school.