AUCHI – The recent riot and cacophony that descended on the polytechnic town of Auchi in Edo State is another grim reminder of the abysmal level of insecurity in the country. Reports reaching our news desk from Auchi, have it that the riot and the mayhem that followed, has a lot to do with administrative incompetence and heartlessness, as students who were already in the examination hall to take their exams, were suddenly told they cannot write because of inability to pay their school fees.
The last, however, has not been heard about that ugly incident that claimed the lives of three students as information reaching our news desk has it that the police have been making sporadic arrests and victimizing unsuspecting students and residents of Auchi and its environs over the riot. One of such incidents involved an ex-student of the institution named Udemba Bright Chigozie.
According to information at our disposal, the said Udemba Bright Chigozie has gone to the polytechnic that fateful day to effect payment to the school in order to enable him collect his certificate having graduated from the institution some years earlier . He was said to have been inside the office of the secretary to the head of his department when violence suddenly erupted and has only managed to escape with his life in the ensuing violence that followed. But three other students were not that lucky as they lost their lives. The said Udemba Bright Chigozie was later arrested by the police with dozens of other students and was only able to escape from the police along with four other boys when other students resisted the arrest of their co-students.
When Udemba Bright Chigozie thought that his nightmares were over , he was shocked to the bones to realize on reaching home in Benin that his mother has been arrested together with two of his sisters. The young man, according to an undisclosed source, was left in panic on realizing that the police came looking for him and had arrested his family members when they couldn’t find him. According to another source that pleaded anonymity, one of the staffs of the university positively identified Udemba Bright Chigozie as one of the alleged masterminds of the riot. The secretary in whose office the young man has waited that morning is rumoured to have sold the idea of his involvement to the police.
Our news crew gathered that the shock has made the young man to disappear into thin air as no one has heard from him nor anyone seen him since his realization of his the arrest of his family. It is quite sad that the law enforcement agencies, especially the police, continue to make arbitrary arrests of innocent citizens instead of doing proper and thorough investigations before arrests. The plight of Udemba Bright Chigozie is not an isolated one as many students have found themselves behind bars since the riot. It is, however, hoped that Udemba Bright Chigozie is safe because as at press time, no one seems to know his whereabouts.
