Deadly Rag Day

              Deadly Rag Day  By OSAGIE OTABOR 

What was supposed to be the end of a successful Students’ Union Week of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, turned bloody following the killing of a student by yet-to-be-identified policemen.

Prior to last week Friday, students of the polytechnic in Estako West Local Government Area of Edo State, especially those in their first year, looked forward to an eventful Rag Day which marks the end of the annual Students Union Week of every tertiary institution in Nigeria.

The Federal Polytechnic, Auchi 2010 Students’ Week was a successful event as Governor Adams Oshiomhole attended the Third National Business Conference of the School of Business of the polytechnic.

What began well ended on a sour note as the host town and neigbouring villages had a dose of students’ anger following the killing of a student identified as Akpos, an ND1 in the Department of Estate Management by unknown gunmen, who the students alleged were policemen.

The students, who learnt about the death of Akpos at about 5am that unfortunate Friday, in the hands of policemen quickly mobilised, took the body and headed for the police station where a full detachment of policemen were waiting.

The policemen were said to have resisted the pressure from the students which irked them and they went on rampage, looting and destroying properties worth millions of naira at federal establishments, including the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) unit office and the Federal Inland Revenue Service office in Auchi.

Not spared were private business centres within the vicinity of the federal establishments, where properties, including computers, and accessories, handsets and accessories, recharge cards and other valuables, were carted away by the irate students.

Vehicular traffic on the Benin-Abuja road was paralysed for over nine hours as the students turned out in large numbers and barricaded the road, preventing movement.

Several vehicles were looted in the riot that was apparently hijacked by miscreants who emptied a truck loaded with alcoholic drinks.

One of the students said they vented their anger on federal institutions because the police are also a federal agency.

At the FRSC unit office, two operational vehicles of the corps, a Premeira Nissan car belonging to a member of staff, and over 11 others parked within the premises were burnt beyond recognition.

The Magistrate Court hall in the FRSC premises and 14 offices were destroyed just as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) office which is opposite the FRSC was vandalised by the students. Members of FRSC staff, who had escaped unhurt, were seen discussing their losses in hushed tones.

One of them said he had to scale the fence to save his head as the irate mob headed for the unit office while two female staff who had done night shift, said they hid inside the toilet till the students went away.

The Unit Commander of FRSC, Auchi, Olu Afolabi, said he was shocked at the incident, wondering why the students should avenge the death of their colleague on the corps.

He said the FRSC had a cordial relationship with the polytechnic and the students.

A business centre operator in the area, Patricia Odion Asuegbe, told The Nation that properties, including handsets and their accessories, recharge cards valued at over N5 million and about N82,000 were removed from her shop.

Also, some students were seen carrying goats and chickens.

The students, however, spared the NNPC mega filling station where they said kerosene was bought at a cheap rate of N50.

But for the timely intervention of the Otaru of Auchi, the Auchi Area Command Police Station would have been razed. The students had charged towards the police station to replicate the same action but they were placated by the monarch who stood between the students and the police station to appeal to them.

The Otaru told the students that burning the police station will not bring back their dead colleague.

It was also gathered that the students destroyed the office of the Dean, Students Affairs.

The Rector of the institution, Dr Phillipa Idogho, who visited the hostel complex to placate the irate students, was chased away.

The reason that led to the killing of Akpos, is quite unclear. A version had it that Akpos was shot by a mobile police escort attached to a South Eastern-Abuja bound luxury bus at the polytechnic gate which is on the Benin-Auchi Express way.

The late Akpos was said to have been with two others at about 2:20am, apparently waiting to board a vehicle to an unknown destination where they were to perform the Rag Day when the luxury bus was flagged down. It was at the point of entering the bus that the police escort was said to have fired three shots hitting Akpos on the head, neck and chest killing him instantly.

Sources said it was his two friends that ran to the hostel to narrate the unfortunate incident and led their peers to where Akpos was lying in a pool of his blood.

On the other hand, the polytechnic’s Students’ Union Government President, Asor Matthew, told Oshiomhole when the governor came to pacify the rioting students that Akpos was killed by men in a tinted police van.

He said the late Akpos was in company of his sister when the killing took place and that both Akpos and the sister were travelling to partake in the Rag Day.

He said they were dressed in tattered clothes in preparation for the 2010 Rag Day.

According to him, "We heard the gunshot. When we got to the hostel, they told us that policemen were shooting. We were later told that somebody was crying for help and before we got there, we found him lying dead. We went to the school management who gave us an ambulance."

"The ambulance could not carry the body so we took it to deposit it at the mortuary but police mounted road block on Jattu Road which was our route. We were going on a peaceful protest but the police prevented us. We have evidence that it was a police bullet that killed Akpos."

The union leader told Oshiomhole that the police fired life bullets at the protesting students which resulted to many sustaining injuries.

"Some of us are in the hospital. Some are in the police cell," he said.

Oshiomhole told the students that he visited them because he did not want to hear from any party that he was not present at the scene of incident.

"As you can see, I came here not wearing bullet proof vest. The security situation in the country is already sufficiently embarrassing. It is the responsibility of any government to protect lives and properties. My government cannot sit and receive reports from people who may not have full report of the incident.

"From your narration, whoever shot that bullet has the intention of killing your colleague. No life should be lost unnecessarily. Whoever takes any life must account for it. We will get whoever carried out the killing whether it was the police or civilian. The police have a duty to produce murderers".

Oshiomhole assured the students who barricaded the express way that he would direct the Commissioner of Police to begin immediate investigation, and that the state government would pay the bills of those hospitalised.

Appealing to the students to have trust in his promises, he urged them to demonstrate a level of maturity by vacating the highway as whatever they do will not bring the late Akpos back.

True to his words, Oshiomhole secured the release of those arrested.

The Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr Mustapha Oshiobugie, said the students took to the highway to protest the demise of their colleague and expressed sympathy on behalf of the school’s management to the bereaved family and the Students’ Union Government over the incident.