2nd October, 2012
At least 32 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State, northeast Nigeria, have been killed.
Though our correspondent said they were massacred on Monday night by a rival student group ahead of their election, the BBC quotes the police as saying that at least 20 students were killed, without stating who actually killed them.
A lecturer also told the BBC that at least 40 students were killed last night. While the AFP reported 26 dead, quoting a military official. “For now, we have 26 confirmed dead,” said the official of the shooting in the town of Mubi. “Fifteen are injured and are being taken to the hospital… The military has taken over control of the area,” added the official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to release casualty figures.
Sources told P.M.NEWS today that trouble began in the school at about 2 p.m. on Monday when the two rival students’ groups who were about conducting an election of their union leaders began to accuse each other of revealing their secrets to security agents.
It was gathered that there was a strong disagreement between the two rival groups which compelled the school’s authorities to invite armed policemen from the Mubi Police Divisional Headquarters to maintain peace in the school.
According to sources, the two groups accused each other of revealing the source of their arms and ammunition to the Joint Military Task Force which raided Mubi town and discovered large arms cache in the area about two weeks ago.
P.M.NEWS gathered that unknown to the security agents, the two groups went back to their houses to replenish their armoury in preparedness for a showdown.
A student of the Polytechnic, who did not want his name mentioned, told our correspondent that the problem began at about 9 p.m. yesterday at Anwan Samiya area, a student dominated settlement located close to the institution, when the two groups engaged each other in a bloody shoot-out from 9 p.m. till 4 a.m. today.
The sources added that when the sound of gun shots subsided this morning, at least 32 students were reportedly killed while several others were seriously injured and were receiving treatment at Mubi General Hospital.
A police source told P.M.NEWS this morning that a team of armed Mobile policemen have been drafted from Adamawa Police Command to maintain law and order in Mubi, adding that a 12 noon to 6am curfew has been imposed on Mubi town.
Efforts by P.M.NEWS to get a confirmation from the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Netan did not yield a positive result as he only told P.M.NEWS on phone that he was attending a serious security meeting and that he would call back later.
The BBC version had it that at least 20 students were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Mubi, north-eastern Nigeria, quoting a police source.
The attack happened at a student hostel away from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi campus, the source said.
A lecturer told the BBC that more than 40 students had been killed but there has been no official comment.
The reported killing comes days after a major operation against the Boko Haram militant group in the town.
The lecturer, who did not want his name to be used, told the BBC’s Hausa service that the students were asked to say their names after lining up.
He says it is not clear why some were killed and others spared – some of those killed were Muslims.
“Everybody is scared and staying indoors now,” he said.
He added that students were now leaving the town, many with tree branches over their cars- a traditional sign of neutrality in Nigeria.
Mubi is in Adamawa state, which has a mixed Muslim and Christian population and borders Borno state, where Boko Haram came to prominence in 2009, staging an uprising in the state capital, Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has not yet commented on the Mubi attacks.
It is fighting to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed more than 1,000 people in numerous attacks across northern and central areas this year.
About two weeks ago, a combined team of military and policemen from the Adamawa military barracks raided Mubi town and arrested over 140 people and recovered large arms and ammunition from the students of the Polytechnic and several others.
In January 36 Igbo traders were killed in Mubi after the expiration of Boko Haram deadline for southerners to leave the region.
Seventeen Christian mourners were also killed in Mubi in January 2012. Recently a curfew was imposed in the town before it was later lifted after normalcy was restore by security agencies.
—Ben Adaji/Jalingo