The management of Imo State University (IMSU) has been forced to postpone their ongoing exams due to insecurity and incessant killings of students in the state.
In a communique released, the management of the institution reached a resolution to shift the exams to June 7, 2021, after students had protested killings of their colleagues, and the seeming insecurity that had pervaded the school environment.
There have been widespread reports of killings at various locations at IMSU, as students continue to live in palpable fear.
Information from a reliable source disclosed to EDUCARE NEWS that students were killed at IMSU junction, three people killed at Amakohia, and scores injured.
At Okwuratta, Davita hostel, a student was shot by a stray bullet, while in Chidera hostel, a bullet shattered the glass window of the hostel building.
In the same vein, the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafran (IPOB) sit at home order on May 31 also condemned students to stay at home, with no option, students had to stock their hostels with food-stuffs for fear of the unknown, with other panicked students fleeing their hostels for fear of further attacks.
A 300-level student of the university who spoke to EDUCARE NEWS, but pleaded anonymity, lament on the panic that was caused by the insecurity and killings which may disrupt academic activities in IMSU.
She said ‘‘the IPOB sit at home order has created panic everywhere in Imo state, some students are supposed to sit for exams on Monday (May 31), but I don’t think it would hold because of the IPOB pronouncement that nobody should come out. so I feel the departments that are to write exams on that day will have to reschedule them.’’
In a related development, unconfirmed reports say soldiers invaded hostels in IMSU, profiling suspected students who are IPOB members, and took them to an unknown destination, while armed policemen raided Okwuratta looking for suspected cult members.
However, Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, said the investigation to unmask the sponsors of security breachers in the state had reached an advanced state, promising that the law would soon expose and prosecute them.
He said ‘’without fear of contradiction, I can declare to you that the recent security challenges in the state have been contained. Imo people should therefore go about their lawful businesses without any fear whatsoever.
‘’Recall that at the onset of this administration these same people had vowed to make the state ungovernable for us. Our only crime against them is our resolve to hand over the state and its resources to the people as the true owners.”
Meanwhile, Imo state residents have called for more effective measures to forestall further attacks in the state as killings of innocent people and students reach an alarming height.
