Clashes between suspected cultists and ex-militants under scholarship programme of the Federal Government amnesty programme at the Igbinedion University, Okada, in the early hours of yesterday threw the town into pandemonium.
Tension ran high in the university community as the two warring groups allegedly engaged themselves in a free-for-all gun battle which lasted several hours. This is coming barely a week after some students of the university were abducted by suspected kidnappers.
A reliable source from within the rank of the ex-militants who did not want his name in print, disclosed that trouble started when some cult members impounded the ex-militant students’ vehicle, adding that the process of trying to retrieve the vehicle from the cult members degenerated into a full blown crisis and a free-for-all.
The repentant militants under the sponsorship of the Federal Government reportedly made bonfires to block the main entrance to the university and some students allegedly sustained machete cuts while scampering for safety.
Also, a parent of one of the students of the institution who spoke on phone on condition of anonymity said his son called him in the early hours of yesterday to inform him of the attack.
“My son called me in the morning to tell me that there was clash in the institution between militants and cult members at about 5am. He also said the two groups engaged in sporadic shooting. So we advised him to stay indoors and not to come out till the situation is put under control,” he said. The Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, could not be reached as calls made to his phone were received by an official who did not disclose his name but simply said the VC “is in a serious meeting over the incident.”
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