Nigerian’s university in southern Rivers State has been closed due to violent protests following the lynching of four students accused of stealing laptops and mobile phones
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Police representative Ben Ugwuegbulem says, a crowd from Aluu community in Port Harcourt On Friday took the law into their hand s by lynching four male students of the University of Port Harcourt. The video, which was posted to YouTube over the weekend, shows four men stripped naked, with tyres around their necks, being beaten by a mob with wooden sticks, before being set on fire. One of their classmates, Paul Irabor, in a BBC report reveals that the four had left the university campus to collect some money they were owed, before being mistaken for thieves. There are reports that the students took a laptop and mobile phones in the place of the money they were owed.
University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) has ordered students to go home after the manifestations turned into violent with houses, shops and cars burned. On Tuesday, students blocked a main motorway near the university for hours, blocking traffic in and out of Port Harcourt. The focus on the demonstration then turned to Aluu, where the lynching happened on Friday. The houses targeted by students supposedly belonged to some of those suspected to be behind the killings.
The authorities’ Anti-riot police and soldiers have been deployed to the campus and the school will remain shut until things come back into normal. The police have launched an investigation to get the culprits of such reprehensible and unlawful act. The suspects and the YouTube video are helping police in their investigation. Thirteen people, including the traditional leader of Aluu village which neighbours the campus in an area called Choba – have been arrested over the killings. Many residents of Aluu began took off on Monday, fearing revenge attacks. Aluu is the nearest community to the university, established in 1975.
