On Friday, 5 October 2012, Tekena Elkanah, Ugonna Obuzor,
Lloyd Michaal and Chidiaka Biringa, all students of University of Port Harcourt,
woke up and full of life. Being in their late teens and early twenties, they
obviously did not know the Nigeria
of peace, unity and progress that some of us the older ones grew up in. The Nigeria they know is the Nigeria of Boko Haram
massacres, kidnappings and armed-robbery – a Nigeria where security has gone to
the dogs. But, like all young people in the University, living by their own
social rules and relative security, the Nigeria that snuffs out life
without a thought is very far from them. They didn’t reckon that this Nigeria was
just outside their University gate in a village called
Aluu.
By virtue of its location, Aluu village can be called a university town. The location of the University of Port Harcourt around its environs ordinarily would be thought to have positive effects on the community. For starters, members of that community are within the university catchment area in terms of admission. Also, the academic culture and social influence of the University would be expected to rub off on the people. As a place providing accommodation to off–campus students, it is a university host community and one would expect that the community and university would by now have developed a good working relationship for the purposes of peace and security, protection of students’ lives and promotion of their well-being.
However, the four young men found themselves in Aluu and never came back to school alive. Those of you who aren’t faint-hearted must have watched the gruesome video of the barbaric killings and seen the pictures making the rounds in the social network. The story we hear from the village and their supporters is that the boys were stealers of a laptop and phones. The excuse for their gruesome murder is that the village of Aluu has suffered from spates of armed-robberies which have had people on edge. Thus, once the students were proclaimed thieves, the village consensus was to publicly execute them in the most gruesome manner after taking them to their traditional ruler.
Let’s pause here and think. Of course, the claim that the students were criminals has been adequately pooh-poohed. But let’s assume the village story is true and that these were indeed robbers. They have been caught, they were not armed and even if they were, they have been stripped and rendered powerless. So, why did they not hand them over to the Police? If the community has been a victim of spates of robberies as they claim, would it not be in their interest to hand over those they have caught to the police, so they can extract information about others still at large? What type of evil anger would rule the minds of people who sacrifice the credibility and innocence of a whole community by openly killing four young men in broad daylight in the village in the presence of women and children and other members of the community? Do these people have sons and brothers and relations who could have been in the boys’ shoes? What contrary spirit came over those characters busy bludgeoning young, able-bodied persons with massive trunks and stones and then collaring them with tyres, dousing them with petrol and torching them? What type of minds were those pushing the battered, beaten fellow rolling away from the fire back into the fire? What type of citizens are we breeding in Aluu?
We may all rail against the loss of values and the scant regard we give to human life in Nigeria. But what we have witnessed in Aluu is a dangerous precedent that must not be allowed to take root. What type of frustration would overcome anyone to the extent that they think death is the punishment for anyone who steps on their toes? What type of communal values is being implanted in Aluu if this is the result of their collective thinking? University students are hosted by hundreds of communities nation-wide. On the night of Independence on 1 October, 2012 we woke up to the news of the massacre of students in Mubi, Adamawa State. But as gruesome as that was, it was not the community that killed those it is hosting. Aluu took brutality and evil to another level.
We must not allow those behind this to go unpunished, because that will endanger the lives of thousands of students living in host communities where and near their universities and tertiary institutions nationwide. We cannot let the young children and women of Aluu who witnessed these killings believe that members of their community with such evil minds, murderers, can go scot-free because this is Nigeria. University students must never be victims of the loss of moral focus and state incapacity to protect citizens. We are calling on you to exercise citizens’ action! Nigerian students of every university and every tertiary institution must rise in protest against this evil! They must move into the community and join hands with well-wishers to protest the death of these young men in the hands of the Aluu community. They must call on the Rivers State Police Command, Governor Rotimi Amechi, and the Rivers State Executive Council, the State House of Assembly, President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly and the security services nationwide to rise up to the occasion and bring justice to those responsible for the gruesome murder of the Aluu4. They should not rest until this is done!
Students and citizens must not take retribution to the community as a whole because law-abiding community members and the women, children and others who did not take part in this gruesome feast of death are themselves victims. But a police post should be established there immediately and the whole community questioned to get to the bottom of it. The security services must make life difficult for perpetrators until justice is served. So, no stone should be left unturned in the search of justice for these young men wasted in the prime of their lives. University students and young people everywhere, including concerned parents must join the movement to get justice for Aluu4. The people must not allow themselves to be victims of murderers and merchants of evil! Enough is enough!
Signed:
Justice for Aluu4
By virtue of its location, Aluu village can be called a university town. The location of the University of Port Harcourt around its environs ordinarily would be thought to have positive effects on the community. For starters, members of that community are within the university catchment area in terms of admission. Also, the academic culture and social influence of the University would be expected to rub off on the people. As a place providing accommodation to off–campus students, it is a university host community and one would expect that the community and university would by now have developed a good working relationship for the purposes of peace and security, protection of students’ lives and promotion of their well-being.
However, the four young men found themselves in Aluu and never came back to school alive. Those of you who aren’t faint-hearted must have watched the gruesome video of the barbaric killings and seen the pictures making the rounds in the social network. The story we hear from the village and their supporters is that the boys were stealers of a laptop and phones. The excuse for their gruesome murder is that the village of Aluu has suffered from spates of armed-robberies which have had people on edge. Thus, once the students were proclaimed thieves, the village consensus was to publicly execute them in the most gruesome manner after taking them to their traditional ruler.
Let’s pause here and think. Of course, the claim that the students were criminals has been adequately pooh-poohed. But let’s assume the village story is true and that these were indeed robbers. They have been caught, they were not armed and even if they were, they have been stripped and rendered powerless. So, why did they not hand them over to the Police? If the community has been a victim of spates of robberies as they claim, would it not be in their interest to hand over those they have caught to the police, so they can extract information about others still at large? What type of evil anger would rule the minds of people who sacrifice the credibility and innocence of a whole community by openly killing four young men in broad daylight in the village in the presence of women and children and other members of the community? Do these people have sons and brothers and relations who could have been in the boys’ shoes? What contrary spirit came over those characters busy bludgeoning young, able-bodied persons with massive trunks and stones and then collaring them with tyres, dousing them with petrol and torching them? What type of minds were those pushing the battered, beaten fellow rolling away from the fire back into the fire? What type of citizens are we breeding in Aluu?
We may all rail against the loss of values and the scant regard we give to human life in Nigeria. But what we have witnessed in Aluu is a dangerous precedent that must not be allowed to take root. What type of frustration would overcome anyone to the extent that they think death is the punishment for anyone who steps on their toes? What type of communal values is being implanted in Aluu if this is the result of their collective thinking? University students are hosted by hundreds of communities nation-wide. On the night of Independence on 1 October, 2012 we woke up to the news of the massacre of students in Mubi, Adamawa State. But as gruesome as that was, it was not the community that killed those it is hosting. Aluu took brutality and evil to another level.
We must not allow those behind this to go unpunished, because that will endanger the lives of thousands of students living in host communities where and near their universities and tertiary institutions nationwide. We cannot let the young children and women of Aluu who witnessed these killings believe that members of their community with such evil minds, murderers, can go scot-free because this is Nigeria. University students must never be victims of the loss of moral focus and state incapacity to protect citizens. We are calling on you to exercise citizens’ action! Nigerian students of every university and every tertiary institution must rise in protest against this evil! They must move into the community and join hands with well-wishers to protest the death of these young men in the hands of the Aluu community. They must call on the Rivers State Police Command, Governor Rotimi Amechi, and the Rivers State Executive Council, the State House of Assembly, President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly and the security services nationwide to rise up to the occasion and bring justice to those responsible for the gruesome murder of the Aluu4. They should not rest until this is done!
Students and citizens must not take retribution to the community as a whole because law-abiding community members and the women, children and others who did not take part in this gruesome feast of death are themselves victims. But a police post should be established there immediately and the whole community questioned to get to the bottom of it. The security services must make life difficult for perpetrators until justice is served. So, no stone should be left unturned in the search of justice for these young men wasted in the prime of their lives. University students and young people everywhere, including concerned parents must join the movement to get justice for Aluu4. The people must not allow themselves to be victims of murderers and merchants of evil! Enough is enough!
Signed:
Justice for Aluu4
