A 300-level undergraduate student ,Solomon Peter of accountancy department in the University of Benin has reportedly run for his life to escape arrest after he was declared wanted for inciting students to violently protest against outrageous price of textbooks and other unlawful extortion by authorities of the institution .
The University authority according to information gathered had in the month of January 2015 received complaints by some 42 students of the above-mentioned department against a lecturer (names withheld) whose extortionist tendencies were challenged by one of his students, Solomon Peter.
It was gathered that the protesting students were visibly angry after Solomon Peter questioned the legality of exorbitant prices of an accounting textbook the lecturer compelled students to buy .
The protesting students however marched down to the office of the Vice-chancellor to register their displeasure but were denied their request to abolish all illegal levies and exorbitant prices as it was reported that the management deliberately took sides with the lecturer.
Reports in the university community revealed that anti-riot policemen obviously acting on the orders of the school authority ,who refused to amicably resolve issues with the students , were drafted into the campus to quell the chaos which was already degenerating into full-scale violence leading to destruction of public facilities as it was said that the policemen applied the use of extreme force on the defenceless students.
Meanwhile, it was said that academic activities within the tertiary institution grinded to a halt completely when reports reached the protesting students on campus that the policemen had immediately gone to the family house of Solomon Peter to arrest and detain him but were not able to get hold of him.
It was learned that Solomon Peter who narrowly escaped arrest when the police arrived his family house has since not returned home while fears of possible prolonged incarceration even threats to his life by some unknown persons acting on the orders of the school authority could not be ruled out as reasons for his sudden escape as the arrested students face a grim prospect of years imprisonment if convicted .
Meanwhile,some of the 42 students who angrily registered their displeasure through the protest in the month of January 2015 are to be arrainged pending the completion of investigations into the case by the police.
Also, reports in the community where the runaway student Solomon Peter who has been actively involved in campus activism against repressive tendencies of the university authority revealed that the ailing father of the runaway suspect had been diagnosed with a terminal ailment that could possibly end his life sooner than later while the whereabouts of his mother could not be ascertained .
The police in a statement earlier released to journalists in Benin city said it would not tolerate any form of breach of public peace by anybody under the guise of protest adding that punitive measures would be applied henceforth to forestall a possible breakdown of law and order on the campus .
Meanwhile, it further said that while all the students involved in the case would be charged to court pending the outcome of the investigation, the police would leave nothing to chance in ensuring that the wanted Solomon Peter was arrested and prosecuted for breach of public peace and inciting students against the management of the university.
