The Death of Two Uniport Students and the Failure of a System by Ukaegbu Stanley.

Yesterday, Nigerians in Port Harcourt witnessed another horror of police brutality following the killing of two students of the University of Port Harcourt, who were protesting over an alleged policy by the management of the institution that school fees must be paid before they would be allowed to take their first semester examinations.

One of the students identified as Peter Ofurun, who was said to have been hit by a bullet from a policeman, died instantly while the second victim, a female student also hit by a bullet was rushed to the hospital, even as sources claimed that she died on the way to the hospital.

Eye witness accounts recounted how the two students were hit by the bullets when policemen opened fire to disperse the protesting students from the busy East-West road they had occupied for hours.

These are just one of the countless series of murders committed by our nation’s security agents who are supposed to protect both the rich and the poor. From the Zakzaky shia moslems massacre by the army and the killings of unarmed IPOB members across the east of the country, indications are that the lurid confluence where peaceful protest meets with respect for the lives and properties of Nigerian by the security forces is yet to form.

It is really very disturbing to observe that it is in this country that live rounds are used on protest parties. Why are we not copying models from countries around the world where tear gas, pepper sprays and water cannons are used only when protests turn violent. Why are we in a constitutional democracy and yet our system appears more repressive than that of communist China.

Painfully, the Rivers state Police Public Officer, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, has told Punch Newspaper correspondent that no life was lost during the protest.

“No reported case of loss of life throughout the students’ protest. What the police did was just the discharge of their mandate of restoring normalcy and orderliness in the university,” Muhammad said.

Without doubt, this denial once again highlights the failure of a system and the abuse and humiliation that have become part of the everyday live of ordinary Nigerians. What I can make of the statement issue by the police is that the dead students died probably of a disease or something else but having happened at the same time, when the protest was going on, formed a chain of coincidence. Ridiculous I must say. What a shame of a nation.

What ever the narrative, expectations are that the Federal government will order investigations into the killings to fish out the cops, who committed this deplorable crime against innocent students and have them face the corresponding consequences according to the laws of our nation.

Truth is, if the federal government allows the perpetrators of these killings to walk the streets of Nigeria free men, then be sure that many more trigger happy security agents will build on this and go on a spree. The time to stop this charade is now.

Stanley Obinna Ukaegbu is a trained journalist and Currently works with Swift 4g lite in Lagos, a passionate blogger and writes from stanuk blog