By SUNDAY ANI

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Before the night of March 1, 2010, the Federal College of Education, Eha Amufu in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State enjoyed uninterrupted peace. But the academic community’s tranquility was disrupted about 11pm that fateful Monday when gunmen invaded the nearby off-campus students’ quarters and snuffed life out of a young female student.


The Chief Security Officer of the college, Mohammed A. Atta, told Sunday Sun that the first year Social Studies Double Major student, identified as Onyoche Ochola, was seized and dragged to a nearby bush where she was brutally killed by unknown assailants.


“About 11pm on March 1, a report came to my office that some people entered into the students’ quarters behind the school compound and chased them out. People were shouting and some of my security men were drafted to the place. When they got there, they did not meet anybody as they had all fled to a nearby bush. The security men called to inform me of the situation and I had to mobilize more men to the place.


“When we got there, we saw drops of blood on the ground. We decided to trace the source of the blood and after about one hour of serious search, we discovered the body of a female student. She had machete cuts on the shoulder and head. Onyoche Ochola, a Social Studies Double Major first year student, was the victim.


“When I saw the dead body, I phoned the Provost, Mr Romanus Onah, who asked me to call the Divisional Police Officer of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area, Mr Obiechina Basil. The DPO came with his team and a police ambulance. The body was taken to a mortuary in the town (Eha-Amufu) while we asked the deceased roommates to contact us if they get any useful information that could lead to the apprehension of the culprits,” Atta said.

Sunday Sun learnt that shortly after the body was taken to the mortuary, some unknown people in collaboration with some students mobilized to the school premises to vandalize some buildings. They vandalized the security office, carting away all the files and documents of some criminal cases, which they burnt. The chief security officer’s official quarters and his personal car were also touched.


According Atta, trouble started when some youths mobilized the same night and moved into the college chanting war songs. They reportedly invaded the college and started destroying property, including Atta’s official residence where they vandalized his personal car and turned his home furniture upside down.

According to the deceased’s roommates, who would not want their name in print, the assailants just stormed their room and in a commando style seized Ochola.


“When they came in, we thought that they were rapists, so we scampered for safety through any available escape route. Unfortunately, they held Ochola and took her away to where they later killed her. We didn’t know what their mission was but Ochola was a peace-loving fellow who avoided trouble like a plague. So, for anybody to have contemplated killing her for whatever reason is most unfortunate. One thing is certain and that is, even if at the end of the day the police could not find them, God must surely find them and punish them accordingly,” they prayed.

While some female students believe the act was committed by rapists, others were of the view that it was the handiwork of cult members who probably were angry that Onyoche turned down their love overtures.

The latter group also believe that the mob that vandalized property in the school and the residence of the Chief Security Officer came from the nearby Idoma community in Benue State, where the slain student hailed from.

“Those people that came to attack the school and destroyed property are the girl’s people from Idoma-speaking area of Benue state. They wanted to avenge the gruesome murder of their sister, but they forgot that those behind the act were outsiders,” the students claimed.


The Chief Security Officer however said the attack cannot be pinned down to one ethnic group.

“Idoma people might be among them but nobody can say for sure that they were strictly Idoma people. I’m from Kogi State and I have appealed to them to be calm. Even if Idoma people were there, students of the college also joined in the attack on the school,” he said.

Curiously, those who went to the college to protest Ochola’s murder only targeted the security office and the CSO’s official residence and his personal property. They not only attacked the security office, they equally ensured that all the files relating to some pending cases were burnt.

Atta told our correspondent that three weeks ago, cultists from the Delta State University were apprehended and handed over to the police. Their case file was in the security office while the case was still being investigated at the police headquarters in Enugu.


The incident however sent panic into neighbouring communities of Ikem, Obollo, Nsukka, Enugu Ezike and others. Students of the college from these communities had fled to their various town and villages.

Reacting to the exodus from the school, which correspondingly hiked transport fare in the area, Atta said: “The students had to flee for fear that the crisis could escalate the next day. Besides, the management of the college held an emergency meeting and asked the students to go home until the issue was resolved. So the school remains closed till further notice.”

Efforts by our correspondent to speak to the Provost, Mr Onah, were unsuccessful as he was not available.

In the same vein, the Isi-Uzo DPO was also not available but policemen at the Ikem station confirmed the incident. According to them, investigation into the killing had commenced.


News -- Horror in Enugu college: Gunmen rape, kill female student, vandalize property, vehicles