UNIPORT Students Burnt Alive: Fresh Crisis Brews In Aluu Community

Fresh crisis may erupt in Omuokiri-Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, where four students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) were murdered on October 5.

UNIPORT students are believed to
be planning more attacks on Omuokiri-Aluu, in spite of the closure of the university following Tuesday’s violent protest. Besides, it was learnt yesterday that some ethnic groups in Rivers State, where the victims hailed from, were gearing up to avenge the murder.

Omuokiri-Aluu is still deserted, with policemen massively deployed in the area, to prevent a likely breakdown of law and order.

Two of the lynched students hailed from Okrika in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, where First Lady Jonathan hails from.

The spokesman of the umbrella organisation of Aluu Clan the Ogbakor Aluu, Mr. Garshon Benson, pleaded with those planning fresh attacks to desist from doing so and give peace a chance.

Aluu clan comprises nine communities. The spokesman insists that where the murder took place was totally inhabited by students and non-indigenes. He said no Aluu son could spill the blood of fellow human beings, as the custom and tradition of the clan forbid it.

The victims: Biringa Chiadika Lordson, Year Two, Theatre Arts, U2010/1805036; Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor, Year Two, Geology, U2010/5565149; Mike Lloyd Toku, Year Two, Civil Engineering, U2010/3010094 and Tekena Erikena, a Certificate student in the Faculty of Education, were lynched in Omuokiri-Aluu, for allegedly stealing mobile phones and laptops.

Benson said: “It has come to our notice that some ethnic groups in the state, whose sons were among those murdered, are threatening to attack Aluu.

“We warn strongly that we will no longer fold our arms and watch further destruction of our communities and the infliction of pains and injuries on the good and law-abiding people of Aluu clan.
“We also call on the security agencies to take note of this threat to attack Aluu and forestall it.”

The spokesman also stated that no Aluu person had hand in the murder of the undergraduates.
He said that on October 9, Omuokiri-Aluu was invaded by UNIPORT students, whom he claimed were armed with dangerous weapons and burnt over 10 houses, destroyed 60 vehicles in the full glare of policemen, whom he said ought to have stopped them.

Benson said three Aluu persons (two children and an aged woman) are still missing after a head count. He urged the government and security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the arson, bring them to justice and compensate the victims.

Rivers police spokesman Ben Ugwuegbulam, said policemen had been massively deployed in Aluu and its environs, to forestall untoward incidents.

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