How students were killed -Report •24 shot dead, 16 had throats slashed •SSS arrests 25 •Mass exodus hits town

A preliminary report in the custody of the government has indicated how the victims of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State, met their deaths at the hands of the deadly group.

One of the reports indicated that 26 of the students were shot while 14 had their throats slashed with knives.

Sources further confirmed that the genesis of the crisis is rooted in the Students’ Union election, which was said to have been hotly contested.

It was also confirmed that some forces used ethnicity and religion to divide the students during the election and that some aggrieved factors might have sponsored the violence.

According to investigations, it was learnt that some rich merchants sponsored the two leading candidates for the election, leading to a tense atmosphere in the build-up to the contest.

Said a source in the know of the preliminary investigations: “The assailants had guns, machetes and knives during the attacks. They also had a masked man who would identify each of the targets as they called out their victims. After the identification, the victim was either shot or slaughtered. They hired some hard guys in town to make it look as if the attacks came from outside sources.

“The bad guys they hired had taken to criminality. The man that won the election also got killed.

“Right now, the government has ordered the joint investigation team to take over the probe.”

Sources close to the government told the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja that the government has constituted a joint investigation team comprising the military, the State Security Service probe (SSS) and the police to unravel the incident.

It was learnt that the SSS has already uncovered some alleged masterminds with the arrest of 25 suspects as of Thursday.

However, speaking on Thursday, the Adamawa State Polytechnic Rector, Professor Abdullahi Bobboi, appealed to law enforcement agents to quickly take measures to protect the students of the institution.

He said that the school came under attack from some hoodlums allegedly led by one ‘Abdul Black’, whom, he said, was believed to have gained access into the polytechnic complex through the Jimeta police barracks.

Bobboi said that two students are now currently lying critically ill at the Yola Specialist Hospital, as a result of injuries sustained from the attack by the hoodlums.

He lamented the incessant incursions into the institution by hoodlums, drug peddlers and miscreants, through the  fence the institution is said to be sharing with the police barracks.

“We have complained again and again, time without number to the police authorities in Yola, to intervene, as the security breach is now reaching an alarming rate.”

But a security official at  the school on Thursday dismissed reports that the killings were linked to tensions over campus election.

The official’s comments came after the police said they had made many arrests over the killings.

“I have no evidence to link it to the election,” said Shuaib Aroke, Deputy Registrar at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, where some of those killed in the massacre on Monday night were enrolled.

“It is a fallacy,” he said of the supposed link being suggested by some Nigerian authorities. “We are united here at the polytechnic,” added Aroke, who said he is currently in charge of security on campus.

He, however, said he had no information on who was behind the killings.

Suspicions have also fallen on Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, which has carried out scores of attacks in the North-East and was the target of a high-profile military raid last week in Mubi.

In the student election, there were suggestions of ethnic tensions between the mainly Muslim Hausas and predominantly Christian Igbos, and a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said some of the victims were candidates.

Aroke, however, said the election went on peacefully and all candidates signed the results sheet.

He noted that voting took place on Saturday, while the killings happened early Tuesday.

Another school official, who requested anonymity, said most of those being held were students. He also said the death toll was at least 40.

Police have given an official death toll of 25, saying at least 22 victims were students, with 19 from the polytechnic and three from another school.

Meanwhile, security deployments appeared less intense on Thursday, though there were checkpoints on the road from the state capital, Yola, to the town.

There was also mass exodus of both students and others out of Mubi due to the killings.

Some of the students and others boarding various vehicles going outside the state at Jambutu Motor Park in Yola towards their destinations who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune expressed regret over the  incident.

Many shops which have been under lock and key for about 12 days before the  killings and are yet to open till now.

Meanwhile, the Adamawa State University has postponed the resumption date for the first semester.

In a press statement issued and signed by Alhaji Ahmed Sajoh of the Information and Protocol Department, the postponement affected all undergraduates of remedial and basic studies.

According to the statement, the decision was taken at a meeting of the Senate of the university on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, there has been apprehension among the students of Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, over the killing of their colleagues in Mubi.

Some of those who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune expressed fears over the killings.

There has also been a heavy presence of security operatives watching over government buildings and properties located at strategic places as well as other areas prone to disturbances in some parts of the state.