…Accuse Minister of indifference

By Adesina Wahab

The national leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, and a group, the Niger Delta Youth Leaders Front, NDYLF, have demanded the report of the  autopsy conducted on the slain Mechanical Engineering student of Ajayi Crowther University, Jeffery Chamuke Akron.

The deceased was allegedly  beaten to death by his colleagues over an allegation of phone theft.

Demanding justice for the late Akron, the National President of NANS, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, and Hon. Chukwutem Nwogor, President of NDYLF, who spoke with journalists, said their demand was based on the need to let justice prevail in the matter.

They equally dismissed the identity of the 25 suspects arraigned at a Magistrate’s Court in Oyo and accused the police and management of the institution of plot to shield the real killers of the deceased.

They jointly demanded for the real identities of the students involved in the murder, report of the autopsy conducted on the deceased and meeting with his immediate family by the management of the institution.

Nwogor, who maintained that the hostels where students are being kept at the university were below par, also wondered why the Minister of Education seemed to be indifference since the unfortunate incident happened.

Nwogor noted that being the regulator of private and public institutions, the Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, should show more than passing interest in the unfortunate incident at the institution.

He said:”On our visitation to Ajayi Crowther University yesterday (Wednesday), if you visit the hostel where the incident occurred, it is a shame. Regulators such as the National Universities Commission, NUC, should do their jobs. What people are just interested in is money, not thinking about safety of the people.

I don’t see any reason why proper facilities are not being put in place before you can approve such school to have an hostel. “Now that this unfortunate incident has happened, the school is running helter skelter to make sure that it fixes the hostel.

“It is also shameful that till this moment, not the Commissioner for Education in Oyo State has visited the scene, not even the Minister has visited or put a call to the family of the late student. What is the reason why you are in government? It is to protect lives and property. The killing of the innocent boy was barbaric. That hostel is inhabitable.”

Investigation revealed that apart from the NANS and the NDYLF, Itsekiri elders also stormed the institution on Wednesday.

Led by an uncle of the deceased, Prince Yemi Emiko, the elders visited the hostel where the late Prince was allegedly beaten to death and also had a meeting with the school management.

They also visited the morgue where the body of the deceased was said to have been kept.

Recall that 25 persons, aged between 18 and 34, were on Wednesday arraigned before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Oyo Town in connection with the murder. They have been remanded in prison until July 8 pending trial.

The deceased, resident in a hostel in the institution known as Shepherd Inn, was allegedly beaten from 6pm on Friday to about 10am on Saturday before he eventually died. He was an Itsekiri Prince from Warri, Delta State.