Demands
Immediate Re-opening of the Institution
Press Statement
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) unequivocally
condemns the Nigerian Police Force, Zuba Division for harassment and
molestation of students of Federal College of Education (FCE), Zuba, Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The harassment and molestation occurred between
the hours of 9pm and 1am in the night of Wednesday 8 July 2015.
The central cause of the crisis was the police
prevention of students from conveying their colleagues injured in an auto
accident to the hospital demanding instead, and rather insensitively, that they
must first obtain a police report without due regard to the fact that any delay
could lead to loss of lives.
We also condemn the closure of the College next day
after angry students provoked by the actions of the police embarked on a
protest. Even though the protest later, and unfortunately, degenerated into a
riot, our stand is that it was the police violence on students including
shooting of tear gas and the breaking into a female student hostel that
provoked the crisis. Therefore closing the campus, as the administration of the
institution has done, is not the solution. Indeed the Education Rights Campaign
(ERC) will vehemently oppose any attempt to punish students or to demand
payment of any reparations or damages by students. While we do not support riot
as a means of expression, we must not also lose sight of the extreme
provocation that the police violence against students who were still in anguish
over the fate of their colleagues injured in the auto accident constitutes.
We demand the immediate reopening of the
institution. We firmly believe that a genuine solution to the crisis has to
begin from placing the blame squarely on the police and the conduct of a proper
investigation by an independent and democratic panel of inquiry consisting of
elected representatives of students and staff unions, human right and civil
society organizations to investigate the conduct of the police and recommend
any police officers found culpable for necessary disciplinary actions. In
addition, we call on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), human rights and civil
society organizations to publicly decry this police violence on students
According to reports, the crisis started on
Wednesday 8 July 2015. Two students of the FCE Zuba, FCT Abuja were involved in
a motor accident close to the Nigeria Police Force, Zuba division. However
while other students at the scene of the accident were struggling to rescue
them and take them to hospital, the policemen on duty insisted that the
students must get police report before they could take their injured colleagues
to the hospital. This led to a heated argument between students and the police.
Many students felt that it was more important to get the accident victims to
the hospital immediately as any delay could prove fatal. The policemen's
response was to fire tear gas on students. They shot sporadically in the air
with students and passerby running for dear live. The Police men also forced
their way into the female hostel beating students.
To us in the ERC, the demand of the police that the
students must get police report is ridiculous
and insensitive. Also it shows that the police are only interested in
the money they hoped to extort from the students instead of joining them to
save the lives of the accident victims. Equally condemnable is the firing of
tear gas at students who only wanted to save the lives of their colleagues.
Moreso, the fact that the accident occurred right
near a police station with police men witnessing the accident and rescue
efforts means there was no need for the formality of a police report. Indeed as a public institution established by
law and the constitution to ensure the safety of lives and property, it is the
constitutional responsibility of the police to at all times offer adequate
protection to Nigerians. In this case, the only way the police could have
fulfilled its lawful responsibility of safeguarding lives was to join the
rescue effort and also provide its officers and vehicles to convey the accident
victims to the hospital.
In any case, a police report is only needed to
assure doctors, nurses and other medical personnel that persons in need of
emergency medical treatment did not sustain their injuries in the process of
committing a crime. Therefore where the police is directly and physically
involved in conveying the victims to the hospital, it should be expected
that medical personnel would be doubly
assured that the circumstances surrounding the accident is legitimate and not
criminal and therefore be more willing to offer much-needed emergency medical
treatment for the injured students.
Dimeji Macaulay
ERC Northern Zone Coordinator
07032069383.
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