Students Protest.
There was fear as police officers used tear gas on students from the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa. The students were protesting because some of their colleagues were kidnapped by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in the early hours of Thursday.
Reports say the kidnappers entered the university community and took some students from their hostels. This made the students angry, and they protested to show their frustration and fear about the increasing insecurity in the area.
Security agents tried to scatter the students, but it didn’t work. Many of them sat on the main road, urging the right authorities to quickly address the security issues at the institution.
The president of the university’s student union, Ibrahim Ismaila, stated that around seven students were kidnapped. Despite their efforts, the school management hasn’t come up with a solution to the issue.
“About seven students were kidnapped, and this is not the first time. The students have engaged with the school management on several occasions to address the issue, but there’s not been a solution. The latest incident ‘triggered’ the students to come out to protest.
“There has not been a word from the kidnappers yet, and we’re waiting for their call. I just spoke to the OC of this division, and he confirmed that some soldiers have been deployed to ensure some security and stability for some time,” Ismaila noted.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the school, Abubakar Ibrahim, an unconfirmed number of students were kidnapped.
He stated, “The students protested earlier over the kidnapping of some students in the school. I cannot confirm the number of kidnapped students now, and we’ve not heard any word yet from the suspected kidnappers. The incident didn’t happen within the school or our hostel, but outside the school where the students lived, which is an ‘area of interest’ to the school management.
“We’ve just concluded a meeting with the state government and security officials to ensure that we put the situation under control. There’s a plan to beef up security at the school, but the school alone cannot do this; everyone has to be involved. The government has promised to work with the police to set up a police post around the school.
“This particular situation (kidnapping) is prevalent in this part of the country, but in this place in particular, the rate of occurrence is very low.”