Soldiers, UNIBEN students clash in Edo

Some soldiers attached to the Army Supply and Transport (S&T) Barracks, Ugbowo, Benin City, Edo, who allegedly caused a disturbance and attacked University of Benin students at one of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the school building, narrowly escaped lynched to death by the irate students on Thursday.

According to eyewitnesses who spoke to our correspondent, the soldiers allegedly had an altercation with the students whose turn it was to withdraw from the automated Teller machines owned by one of the banks on the university grounds.

The trouble, it was heard, started when the students queuing for the withdrawal resisted army personnel jumping the guns to withdraw at the expense of the students who had stayed for hours to get paid.

It was learned that the soldiers had approached the ATM in the same allegedly oppressive ways on Wednesday and wanted to repeat the same thing Thursday when the students asked them to line up if they wanted to withdraw from the ATM

“On Wednesday they (the soldiers) came here (the ATM inside the university) and harassed the students. They even asked the students who challenged them to line up to lie down on the floor.

“But yesterday (Thursday) when they came again and wanted to do the same thing, the student resisted them,” said an eyewitness who did not want his name mentioned.

As the heated arguments continued between the students and the military officers, the Chief Security Officer, CSO, is said to have gone from the facility to the crime scene, apparently intending to intervene when he was attacked by the soldiers they believe were the CSO .

The development, according to the source, heightened the already tense atmosphere as the students in their numbers pounced on the soldiers with one of them reportedly injured.

The injured students then barricaded the Ugbowo-Lagos Expressway and halted vehicular traffic for several hours as all routes leading to and from the main UNIBEN gate were blocked in protest of the soldiers’ action.

It took the intervention of some feisty Nigerians and the Deputy Police Officer, DPO, Ugbowo Division to appease the irate students to allow movement around the axis.

When contacted, state police spokesman SP Chidi Nwabuzor said he was in Abuja and could not provide details but instructed our correspondent to speak to his 2i/c, ASP Jennifer Iwegbu, who confirmed the incident.

ASP Iwegbu said calm was restored after several calls to the student, but claimed the students want a phone from one of the unnamed students smashed on the ground to end the porridge.

In a quick response, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Lilian Salami, in a statement on Friday, deplored the “unfortunate incident” and charged to calm, assuring that efforts are being made to prevent a recurrence in the future. prevent.

“The situation has been brought under control and the management of the university is in talks with the S&T hierarchy for an amicable settlement,” she said.

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