Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Suspected cultists on Wednesday hacked a student of the Benue State University )(BSU) to death on the university’s main campus.
The victim whose name was given as Isaac Mater Nyiyongo was until his death was killed at about 7:30 pm that fateful evening.
According to the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Moses Kembe who confirmed the killing while briefing newsmen on the matter on Thursday, the deceased last registered in the 2016/2017 as a 200 level student in the department of Political Science.
He said the assailants shot sporadically into the air to scare people away while they went after their target and hacked him to death with a hammer.
The Vice Chancellor who described the development as regrettable and saddening said such shouldn’t be happening on a campus which had over the years achieved a high standard of peace, security and stability even in the smooth running of the academic calendar.
He disclosed that two suspected masterminds of the criminal incident have been arrested and were already assisting security agents with useful information, adding that preliminary investigation suggested that they are not students of the institution.
“Since assumption as Vice Chancellor of this institution, the university management has been on the same page and unified in tackling the menace of cultism and other related vices prevalent among student populations the world over.
The Vice Chancellor posited that, “realizing the neighbouring environments of Gyado Villa and Akpehe were home to a large population of students living off campus, and a potential breeding ground for trouble makers, we have maintained robust interface relations with conventional security agencies.
“Our target in this regard is to keep criminal elements as far away as possible from our campus and the majority of the students who are desirous of pursuing their legitimate dreams of acquiring higher education here.
Kembe posited further that the University has taken steps to tackle the nagging issues of crime by bolstering the size of its security department and rejuvenated its manpower capacity to achieve modernized operational quality.
He explained further that he had only recently met with the Chaplain of the Goodnews Chapel of the institution to to seek ways on how to organize deliverance session for all students of the University with a view to ensuring that those who belong to cults renounce their membership and come out from such.