CYRIL MBAH , Abuja
Students of the Federal University, Lafia in Nasarawa State now live in constant fear for their lives following the invasion of their residential areas last week by unknown persons suspected to be armed robbers. The armed men allegedly numbering about twelve on three occasions, brutally attacked the students for several hours without provocation, raped female students and robbed many of them outside the main campus before leaving without being challenged.
It was gathered that many parents have since panicked and are withdrawing their wards from the university after the three brutal attacks at Gandu and Maraba Quarters on Saturday and another operation which was carried out on Sunday at Akunza Quarters, an area in Lafia also very close to the school and a military check point.
The three attacks, according to sources, left seven students with life-threatening matchet-inflicted injuries while one female student was brutally gang-raped. The victims were admitted at the General Hospital, Lafia and are receiving treatment at the moment.
Akunza, Maraba and Gandu quarters are off-campus residential areas in Lafia with a very high population of students, who could not secure hostel accommodation within the main campus and chose private residential houses in the area because of the location’s closeness to the school.
Accordingly to the students, the robbers moved from one room to another in the midnight on the fateful days attacking and dispossessing victims of valuable items especially money, phones, laptops and other appliances that caught their fancy .
Many of the students were left with different degrees of injuries after the three robbery operations. One of the victims was left with a deep machete wound on his back, while another student’s left foot was severed from the leg close to the knee region.
Efforts by our reporter to get official comments from the university authorities to ascertain what has been done to improve security in the affected areas were unsuccessful. It was however gathered from a senior official that the institution ragards the matter as a cult-related problem rather than an armed robbery case although the frequency of the attacks signposts an urgent need for improved security around the students’ living areas for their safety.
No arrest has been made as at the time of filing this report but the Police Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters in Abuja, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi promised to take up the matter with the Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa State for increased police presence and patrols of the areas.
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