Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Police Command in Enugu State has released 29 out of 34 students recently arrested indiscriminately at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Agbani, Enugu State.
The President of the ESUT Students Union Government (SUG), Mr Donatus Okolieuwa, confirmed the unconditional release of the students to newsmen on Sunday in Enugu.
Okolieuwa noted that the students were released in the evening of Saturday, July 8, through the intervention of the ESUT’s management, leaders and some elders of the state.
He said that five of the students were still being held by the Anti-Cultism Squad of the police command for further investigation on their alleged involvement in cult-related activities.
The SUG president recalled that the police anti-cultism squad stormed the school’s cafeteria, where students eat, relax, engage in recreational activities and charge their phones, shot in the air and arrested everybody in the cafeteria.
According to him, the police alleged that they got information that there was cult activity taking place at the cafeteria hence the indiscriminate arrest.
“So, the police arrested everybody in the cafeteria and later we were able to establish that they took away 34 students on the allegation of being in a place that they (police) suspected was being used to carry out cult activities,” Okolieuws said.
He, however, said that the union had zero tolerance for cultism “and will do all we can to ensure it was stamped out.
“Likewise, the school management lead by our ably Vice Chancellor, Prof Aloysius Okolie, does not tolerate cultism and all its manifestations,” he said.
The SUG president confirmed that all the seized items belonging to those released had been returned to them, adding that the union would still follow up on the case of the remaining five students undergoing investigation by the police.
According to him, “We are thankful to all who stood by us, especially our VC, school management, elders and political leaders of the state who ensured that innocent students do not suffer humiliation and intimidation.”
He said that some of the students were injured in the process of the indiscriminate arrest, adding that some students fled the cafeteria vicinity thinking it was unknown gunmen that shot in the air.
Okolieuwa urged the police to carry the school management and SUG along on arrest of student(s) on allegation of any crime or misbehavior on campus in order to forestall misinterpretation of its positive intention.
