Medical students of the Benue State University on Friday, deposited a casket containing the corpse of their mate, Nicholas Itodo Inalegwu, in front of the office of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charity Angya, in protest against his demise.
The students numbering more than 100, made bonfire and obstructed vehicular traffic along the busy Makurdi-Gboko Expressway. They had an inscription on the coffin, alleging that the student committed suicide following his expulsion from the university after spending over 10 years.
One of Inalegwu’s mates, who pleaded to be anonymous, told Sunday Telegraph that his colleague, whom he described as an outstanding student, had questioned the rationale behind his expulsion by the school management during his clinical, noting that the trauma of the expulsion forced him commit suicide.
“How can they expel a student at the stage of clinical? This is why we have quack doctors. A student who has spent over 13 years and just at the verge of completion of studies with clinical was expelled by the school.
This is the cause of his death,” he said. Another female student who also bared her mind to our correspondent said, “He had been talking about it, that he wish he died a painless death, that the school had finished him, that there was no where in the world a medical student was suspended after spending over 10 years”.
When Sunday Telegraph visited the scene of the incidence, dozens of anti- riot policemen loaded in more than 10 trucks were deployed to the scene to dispel the protesting students. Dean of Student Affairs of the institution, Dr. Gowon Doki, debunked the claims by the students, and explained that the late student met his untimely death in a road mishap yesterday along the new George Akume Road in Makurdi.
Dr. Doki added that the deceased had been withdrawn from the university having failed his clinical examination. He said: “So his mates felt that it was improper to withdraw a student at that stage. They claimed that could be the cause of his death and so, decided to embark on this protest with a coffin.” He said normalcy had been restored to the institution after the Vice Chancellor addressed the students.
The university had been shut down close to five months now following the failure of the state government to pay salaries of lecturers. Governor Samuel Ortom held several meetings with Academic Staff Union of the institution to resolve the face-off but all to no avail as they insisted that all their outstanding salaries must be paid before they would suspend the strike. New Telegraph
