Students Killed in Dorm Shooting in Nigeria

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria—On Tuesday, October 2, 2012, more than 25 students and citizens were killed in the town of Mubi in Nigeria in the state of Adamawa. Four of those killed were students of the College of Health Technology in Mubi, seven others were members of the Federal Polytechnic Institution and fourteen other citizens of the town lost their lives in the shootings. The attack was carried out at night while most of those killed were sleeping. The gunmen went door-to-door to called out their victims by name before they shot them. It remains unclear who is responsible for the attack.

Many Students Have Left Town Since the Shootings Occurred Early Tuesday Morning. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

The reports suggest that several men in military uniform entered the residence halls and gathered the students outside of their dorm rooms. Once they were lined up, they were shot and their bodies were left in rows outside of the dorm buildings. The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Ken Henshaw, said that the killings were “simply shocking.” But he also noted that, “it seems to make a lot of sense that it could have been an outcome of the elections that were held the previous day.”

There does exist some rivalry between different groups of students that may be influenced by national politics, religion or ethnicity, and this would not be the first time that it would reach this level of violence. The deputy registrar of the Polytechnic school, Shuaib Aroke, denies that these killings were linked to any student politics. He said, “It is a fallacy. We are united here at polytechnic.”

Before these shootings, the town of Mubi was already held to an extensive curfew between 3pm and 6am after a series of arrests were made of people with links to prior attacks with Boko Haram last week. Boko Haram is a violent group that is fighting to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed over 1,000 people in a number of attacks across the northern and central areas of the nation this year. The schools are now closed and many of the students have left town.

Senator Bindowo Jibrilla, from the Adamawa North Senatorial District, in discussing these types of crimes noted regrettably, “when they happen in this country, after a week, we tend to forget it and wait for the next one to happen.” The Senate President David Mark also said, “Terrorists will succeed once they can stop you from doing what you want to do and once they can stop government from doing what they want to do, they want all Nigerians to be very scared of sending their children to polytechnics and universities. I think these are very serious challenges and we must address them.”

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Nigeria: Scores Arrested Over Mubi Killings – 4 October 2012

All Africa – Nigeria: Outrage Trails Mubi Massacre – 4 October 2012

BBC News – Nigeria Police Deny Mubi Student Killings Arrests – 4 October 2012

Channels – Police Arrest Mubi Murder Suspects – 4 October 2012

Author: Impunity Watch Archive