Police ‘shoot’ rioting Benue varsity student

The police yesterday evening allegedly shot a student of the Benue State University in the chest. The students were protesting the alleged killing of a 400-level female student of the Department of Economics who was killed earlier by a truck driver. The deceased was said to have been knocked down by the truck driver coming from Gboko when she crossed the road at the second campus of the institution.

The protest became violent following the alleged shooting of the student by the policemen.

The students pulled down most of the solar energy street lights on the road near the university campus and set the headquarters of the Board of Internal Revenue Service ablaze.

The Registrar of the university, Dr. Timothy Utile, announced the closure of the institution and directed the students to vacate the campus.

Benue Police Command said it has intercepted more than 200 small arms since the beginning of the year.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Alaribe Ejike, spoke yesterday in Makurdi in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the arms, which comprised locally- made pistols, double-barrel guns, short knives, daggers and spears were intercepted during routine checks.

Ejike assured that the command was determined to end the spread of small arms.

The spokesman said the command had put in place security checks to ensure the safety of life and property.

He said the efforts had started paying dividends.

“We are already achieving much through our ‘stop and search’ duty patrols on vehicles.

“Also, the continuous raid on criminals’ hideouts is paying off.”

He said some of the weapons were recovered during such raid.

The PPRO said at a recent raid in Kanshio that 35 suspects were arrested, while five locally-made pistols were recovered.

He attributed the arms proliferation to cult groups who he described as the worst offenders of the firearms law.

Ejike said they were responsible for the exacerbation of the communal crises at Agboghuul village in Makurdi.

He said most of the culprits, who were arrested while burning people’s houses, confessed.

The police spokesman warned those using small arms to cause disaffection within communities to desist from the act or face the wrath of the law.

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