June 6, 2024
The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Niger Delta Youth Leaders Front have demanded an autopsy report on the slain Mechanical Engineering student of Ajayi Crowther University, Jeffery Chamuke Akron.
The deceased was allegedly beaten to death by his colleagues over allegation of phone theft.
The 25 students responsible for the murder, aged between 18 and 34, were on Wednesday arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Oyo State in connection with the murder.
They have been remanded in prison until July 8 pending trial.
The deceased, resident in a hostel in the institution premises known as Shepherd Inn, was said to have been allegedly beaten from 6:00pm on Friday till about 10:00 am on Saturday.
But the leadership of NANS and Niger Delta Youth stormed the institution on Wednesday in protest, demanding an autopsy report of the late student who incidentally was an Itsekiri prince from Warri, Delta State.
Demanding justice for the late Jeffery Chamuke Akron, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, NANS Universal President; and Honourable Chukwutem Nwogor, President of Niger Delta Youth Leaders Front, who spoke with journalists, confirmed a visit to the institution.
They dismissed the identity of the 25 suspects arraigned at the Magistrate Court in Oyo and accused the police and management of the institution of plotting to shield the real killers of the deceased.
They jointly demanded the real identities of the students involved in the murder, autopsy report conducted on the deceased and meeting with his immediate family by the management of the institution.
Honourable Chukwutem Nwogor, who maintained that the hostel where students were being kept at Ajayi Crowther University was inhabitable, also indicted the minister of Education for indifference since the unfortunate incident happened.
Honourable Nwogor noted that being the regulatory agency on private and public institutions, the Minister of Education, Honourable Tahir Mamman, should have shown more than passing interest in the unfortunate incident at the institution.
He said: “On our visitation to Ajayi Crowther yesterday ( Wednesday), if you visit the hostel of the school, it is shameful to the National University Commission. What people are just interested in is money, not thinking about safety of the people. I don’t see any reason why the proper facilities are not being put in place before you can approve such school to have an hostel.
“Now that this unfortunate incident has happened, the school is running helter-skelter to make sure that it fixes the hostel.
“It is also shameful that till this moment, not the Commissioner for Education for Oyo State has visited the scene, not even the Minister has visited or put a call to the family of the late student. What is the reason why you are in government? It is to protect lives and property.
“The killing of the innocent boy was barbaric. That hostel is inhabitable. “
Investigation revealed that apart from the NANS and the Niger Delta Youth group, Itsekiri elders also stormed the institution last Wednesday.
Led by an uncle of the deceased, Prince Yemi Emiko, the elders visited the hostel where the late prince was allegedly beaten to death and also had a meeting with the school management.
They also visited the morgue where the body of the deceased was said to have been kept.
