Felix Ikem, Nsukka
A final year student of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was on Wednesday stabbed to death by a fellow student over non payment of electricity bill at Alfred’s Lodge, an off-campus residence where he lives.
The student identified as Mbah Chuks Stephen who has less than two months to graduate from the department of Public Administration and Local Government (PALG) got into a fight with his lodge president simply identified as Asogwa Nnamdi, popularly called Tiny over issues around payment of electricity bill.
Nnamdi, a second year student of the department of Combined Arts (English/Theatre and film studies) was said to have disconnected the deceased electricity line following his refusal to pay a fine of N200 as agreed by the residents of the lodge.
Helen Okereke, a resident of the lodge described the incident as “unusual, unexpected and a brief moment of anger” which ended up destroying a lot of things adding that the deceased first attacked the Nnamdi with a stone which prompted the retaliatory attack.
Another resident, Unwana Ekere who witnessed the incident disclosed that as Nnamdi went to the deceased’s room to collect the agreed sum, the deceased refused to pay and requested that his electricity be reconnected immediately and upon refusal by Nnamdi, a scuffle started and he was stabbed which left him lying in the pool of his blood.
He was later rushed to Bishop Shanahan hospital by his younger brother and some other residents of the lodge where he was confirmed dead.
Daniel Sunday, another resident who narrated the incident, said that the whole issue started last month when EEDC brought electricity bill for them which they paid off only for them to be told afterwards that the bill they cleared was only that of those living in the first series of the lodge (downstairs) and not for the whole lodge.
The lodge president then called for a meeting where they all agreed to pay a sum of N1000 to clear off their debts.
Meanwhile, there haven’t been power supply in the community (Odenigwe) for quite some time and last week, the power was restored in the community but their lodge’s power supply was not restored. Since it was only their building that was affected, they decided to contribute two hundred naira each to pay someone who would reconnect theirs and this was what triggered the fight.
When the lodge president got to the deceased’s room to collect their own contribution after the light was restored, the deceased’s response of not having money to pay, infuriated the lodge president who threatened to disconnect his light.
Daniel added that the two people involved were not in enemity before then and described the incident as unintentional and resulting from anger which has now turned sour.
“We don’t know the whereabout of Nnamdi but we know he followed the deceased to the hospital as he himself also sustained injury. We got the news of his death on Thursday morning from his girlfriend and it’s still a shock to us that he is dead. A little misunderstanding has led to an unforgettable incident,” he said.
The deceased classmate who pleaded anonymity also confirmed the incident adding that he (Stephen) is presently at Bishop Shanahan mortuary, Nsukka and that the guy who stabbed him is in police net.
She said that the death of Stephen came as a shock to them which left both students and lecturers in tears as he is a very peaceful and intelligen with a CGPA of 4.8.
On receiving the news of his passing, students and staff of the department had declared a lecture free day to mourn their colleague’s death.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amarizu confirmed the incident and said the state Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Balarabe has directed for a full-scale investigation just as the suspect is helping the operatives in their investigations.
The dead body of the deceased has been deposited in a nearby hospital mortuary.