From Chris Anucha  and Tony John

What started  yesterday  as a peaceful  protest  by  the students   of  University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT)  suddenly  turned   tragic when a final year student  of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Mr.  Peter Ofurum, was allegedly killed by the  police.
In a swift reaction, Rivers State Police Command has denied its officers killed Ofurum. According to the Command’s spokesman, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, the policemen used  ‘minimum force’ during the protest.
Ofurum  was  recently elected as the President  of  the Faculty of Management Sciences of the Institution.
Also,  two other  students  were  allegedly  shot  by  the police,  but their  identities could   not be ascertained at the time of filing the report.
They   were said  to be lying critically  ill at  the hospital, where doctor made frantic efforts to save their lives.
The students,  who  gathered  as early as 5.30am, later  marched to the main campus called ‘Abuja Campus’ of the university, as  they  protested   increase in tuition which came into effect in  November 2015.
The fee was increased  to N47, 000  and  the students were given   up to  April  4  to pay up  or be de-registered.
However,  besides complaining that  the deadline given by  the university was short, students  lamented  that  the fee was high. Some of  them lamented that  their parents had been relieved of their jobs, while those of them   working were being owed salaries for months.
They  added  that even  when some of  them managed to raise tuition,  the portal  was shut  down  by the school authorities after the expiration of  the deadline  given to pay up.
Angry students blocked the  university’s  entry and exit points  and shut down academic activities,  including  examinations that were scheduled to start yesterday.
The protest  also caused traffic  gridlock  on the  popular East-West Road,  as motorists  and pedestrians  found it  extremely difficult  to  move  from  Choba to Rumuokoro, vice versa.
Trouble, however, started  when  the UniPort management insisted on   stopping  students who did not pay  their  schools fees  from taking  part in examination.
The students,  it was gathered, appealed to the management to rescind its   decision and extend the deadline to no avail. They promised to sustain the protest until the  Vice Chancellor, Prof.  Sunday Lale and the Senate  listened to them.
A student, Andrew Osose, said the management did put into consideration, the hardship  in the country before taking the decision to de-register  students  for failing to meet the deadline.
“The university  said  if  students  do  pay the school  fees , they will  not write exam. We pleaded with them  to allow some of us pay during the second semester exams. We pleaded that  they should  keep the  registration open  till one week, or  extend it  to the second semesters exams because, all fingers are not equal.”
“We did not destroy any property and we were not violent. We were only trying to make the public hear our plight.
Another student,  Mr. Adah Andrew,  described the action of  the institution as extortion.
“We will not end this protest until the school management comes out to attend to us.  We will make sure that there will be no exams in the school.
“They must reduce  the school fees and they must not close our portal because, no federal university closes portal. This policy is not fair to the students.”
When Daily Sun contacted  the university’s spokesman, Dr Williams Wodi, a         Deputy Registrar (Information)  he claimed he was being held hostage by  the students. Wodi calimed he was in hiding and that there was no way for him to move away from the trouble spot.
He debunked allegations  of increase in  tuition  and  de-registering students who failed to pay up.
According to him, such students would only carry over the semester.
“We told them that all returning students are to pay N45,000.
“That was communicated through the school website, circular and the school bulletins and others.
“When we wanted to enforce the payment at the beginning of the session we saw that the compliance was very low.
The first deadline was February 21, 2016.
“We extended it to March 11,2016. We made it lecture-free for all students to pay.
“We recorded some mileage. Then, we extended it to March 30, 2016.We still had some students who had not paid. So, we opened our portal on April 5 for them to pay, yet, we still had problems with a couple of them and reopened it on April 6 and closed it on midnight of April 7.
“We sensitised our students as far back as November 2015 that we are going to change the perception of University where students come school free and carry over all school fees from year one to the final year and they should pay what we gave as outstanding charges because we do charge school fees.
“You can see that from November last year to February 12,March 11,March 30,April 5 and finally April 7 ,  98 percent of students complied.”
He also confirmed  closure of the institution  for one month by the Senate.
“Senate has shut down the university with immediate effect.
“All students  are directed  to vacate their hostel accommodation before 6.00pm today (yesterday). Students’ Union and all their affiliate bodies suspended with  immediate effect.
“The closure will last for one month.”