- * Varsity Authority, Students Reportedly Helpless
- As Anti-Crime Operatives Restore Calm, Take Over Security Of Ifite Awka Area
By Rose Nwankwu (Anambra State Correspondent)
A pall of gloom, anguish and tears ruled the entire Ifite area of Awka, Anambra State, as over 10 female students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik), Awka, Anambra State capital, were reportedly raped by invading armed robbers, said to be numbering over 20.
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper Correspondent gathered at Ifite Awka, at the weekend, that the armed robbers who operated in the early hours of Friday January 20, 2023, attacked the student's lodges/hostels, breaking down doors of student's apartments and raping female students and also stealing cash, phones and other electronic and valuable items belonging to the students.
The robbers reportedly took the students who had just finished their first semester exams and have started their second semester classes unawares. They were said to have created so much panic, confusion and uncertainty in Ifite road area during the attacks and even after the incident, by shooting indiscriminately while robbing the students room-to-room.
NEWSLEADER also learnt from student's accounts during a visit to the area on Friday afternoon, that the armed robbers were mainly youths from yet unknown quarters in the state. According to some student victims, the robbers were heavily armed with sophisticated light guns, axes, matchets, cudgels and items suspected to be charms. They reportedly inflicted severe physical injuries on some of the male and female students while also raping the girls in a turn-by-turn sex orgy.
Among the females raped are those who were identified not to be students of Unizik but some who visited their student lovers. Over 10 female students were said to have fallen victims of the rape exercise by the armed robbers including a young female student said to be a virgin.
Fear and palpable anxiety gripped the students and people living in the Ifite community over the incident. Most of the students who spoke with NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Correspondent on Friday, expressed their initial disappointment with the authorities of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) for what they described as their "total neglect and indifference to the security and safety of their students" especially in the Ifite Awka area.
A 200 level female student in one of the departments in the Faculty of Social Sciences and who asked not to be mentioned by NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER in it's report for obvious reasons, however, lamented what she blamed as the "apparent indifference and non-challant attitude" of the management of the institution led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Okechukwu Esimone.
Professor Charles Okechukwu Esimone, Vice chancellor Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka
The angry and disappointed female student also fumed in tears, accusing both the Vice Chancellor and the Senate of Unizik of not taking the affairs and well-being of the students of the University seriously.
She also described the youthful VC, Esimone, a trained Biopharmaceutics and Biotechnology and the first Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology in the entire South East Nigeria, as "only interested in collecting money! money!! money!!!" from his students in the name of all kinds of nebulous school levies.
The female student equally blamed the leadership of the Student's Union Government (SUG) of not living upto the expectation of their fellow students in fighting for the student's welfare and their general security.
"We are also not too happy with our SUG in this school for not putting their foot down hard enough to ginger the school management to live upto their responsibilities", she said, adding that "We however liked the way the SUG mobilized the students today (Friday) for mass protest over the robbery incident and the general state of insecurity in Unizik Campus before the anti-riot Police Team led by a DPO dispersed us", she stated.
However, another female student narrated the robbery incident thus: “We were at the hostel when we heard gunshots that lasted for about ten minutes, and we ran for our lives because they had not gotten to our own hostel; we hid at the back of some shops in the area.
“Then we had loud noise of female students shouting for help but nobody could summon the courage to stop them because they are well armed. Those that attempted to resist were beaten blue black and many people got injured but I cannot say the number of people affected.
“One of the female students that was raped is a virgin and they raped her twice and we are holding her because she wanted to commit suicide.”
Displeased by the story of the dawn robbery attacks on the students and the raping of their female members, the Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, upon receiving a phone call alert at the Government House, Awka, was said to have immediately ordered security operatives to engage the armed robbers. But their operation was over before the anti-crime team could get to the scene at Ifite.
Already, the Anambra State Government has deployed full anti-robbery security detachment to calm the tensed atmosphere and restore the security confidence of the students within the area. The armed security operatives have equally taken over total security cordon and patrol of the entire Ifite area, with a firm directive to smoke out all criminal elements in the area and deal with them accordingly.
It was revealed to NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER at Ifite, that students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) were under a similar attack at bars and restaurants in the area four (4) days before the robbery incident. The students were yet to recover from the shock and anxiety of the previous attack when the robbers again raided their hostels and lodges.
Reacting to the development, however, the Anambra State Police Command, through its spokesman, Supol Tochukwu Ikenga, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the robbery occurrence to inquisitive newsmen.
According to our News Correspondent, the Police Public Relations Officer said: “Our men on getting wind of the information got to Ifite Awka and was able to battle the criminals.”
Although, DSP Ikenga did not reveal the actual number of those involved in the armed robbery operation, he however stated that making the number of suspected culprits in the operation public would likely interfere with the on-going police investigation of the matter. NNL.
