ATBU Insecurity; we blame the Government and University Management for incessant loss of lives and properties

ATBU Insecurity; we blame the Government and University Management for the continued loss of lives and properties

• We Join ATBU students to demand maximum security of lives and properties
• We demand a public probe of the university management and the Nigerian police
• We condemn the clampdown on protesting ATBU students

…for a safe and secure university environment

The Save Public Education Campaign (SPEC) condemns the incessant loss of lives and properties at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi State. We put all of the blame and fault on the university management as well as the Nigerian government who adamantly refused to find a solution to the lingering crisis despite several robbery, murder and rape cases reported by the students. We demand a public probe of the university management – which we deem an accomplice – and we demand urgent deployment of security solutions to the school environs.

Similarly, we fault the attempt of the university management to suppress the rights of the students to peacefully protest the murder of a 500-level student of the institution. We believe the school should have deployed these security men to protect the students and prevent the occurrence of this ugly incident instead of attacking and dispersing the students while protesting the murder case. Hence, we demand an immediate reopening of the institution with full and sustainable security measures to prevent future occurrences.

We are sad to hear about the death of Joseph Agabaidu, a 500level Geology student of the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi State, on December 2, 2023, who was stabbed in the chest by some acclaimed hoodlums terrorizing the school environment. We at SPEC have been very concerned about the precarious state of security in this academic environment over the past few months. Earlier, a 200-level student of the Department of Chemistry at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University, ATBU, Moses Isah, has been reported missing. According to his elder brother, Samson Isah, Moses has been missing for over 15 months and there has not been any concrete effort neither by the university management nor the Nigerian Police and other security agencies to find him. Similarly, we have on record several other cases of how armed robbers, gunmen, kidnappers and hoodlums have been terrorizing the school environment.

 We commend the students and concerned persons who organized a protest at the University Gate to demand an end to the insanity going on around the school environment. The fact that the school management was able to raise men of the Nigeria police within a few minutes to repress the students’ protest but couldn’t mobilize the police to secure the lives and properties of the students remains a mystery to us in SPEC. We do not agree with the suggestion of the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Auwal Mohammed, that “it was wrong for the students to have taken laws into their own hands” by protesting against obvious threats to their lives and properties which were being ignored by the management and Police till the moment. If there is no alignment between the management/police and the perpetrators of these acts, the episodes of robbery and attacks should have ended a long time ago.

Hence, we call for a public investigation and probe of the ATBU management who have criminally remained silent to the several attacks on the lives and properties of the students. Also, we demand the deployment of sustainable security measures to the university vicinity and a critical investigation into the root cause of all of these insanities to provide a long-lasting solution to them.

Likewise, we condemn the clampdown and repression of students’ right to protest and freely organize for their collective welfare. The men of the Police are meant to protect the protesting students and not fire canisters or arms at them.

While we acknowledge the decision of the university senate to suspend academic activities temporarily, we want to warn the senate not to use this as merely a bait to reduce the tension and to impose stringent anti-student policies when students return to school. We of SPEC wants to believe the management wants to use this period of impromptu break to, identify all her security lacuna, improve security measures, implement sustainable security measures and ensure students resume back into a safe environment. Any activity of the university management outside all of these recommendations will attract massive resistance from all of us in SPEC.

We call on the staff unions in ABTU to fight in solidarity with the students and should publicly condemn the attacks on students while peacefully protesting. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the State, Zone A and the National must mobilise to compel the management of ATBU to meet the demands of students. 

We wish to emphasize that any policy of the management put in place to curb insecurity without involving the students, staff and community is merely a cosmetic act that will not last. This is why we call for collectiveness in decision-making, including the democratization of the university decision-making system to include representatives of the students, workers, and the community.

 

Damilola Owot

Organising Secretary

 SPEC