Operatives of the Anti-Cult Squad of the Enugu State Police command have reportedly arrested scores of suspected cultists from the main campus of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Agbani in Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state.
According to The Nation, the suspects, numbering about 50, who were mainly students of the institution, were involved in cult-related activities when the police apprehended them.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Ikechukwu Ezeanioma confirmed the development but said that he did not know the number of students arrested by the police.
He, however, said that the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, was already interfacing with the police to ascertain the veracity of the reports.
He said: “There were some arrests in ESUT yesterday (Friday). But they are some suspected cultists. I don’t know the actual number but it is not up to that magnitude.
“The Vice-Chancellor is already interfacing with the police on the matter to ascertain the veracity of the whole report.”
However, reports quoting the President of the ESUT Students Union Government (SUG), Donatus Okolieuwa, claimed that no fewer than 50 innocent students of the university were arrested by the police.
Okolieuwa, described the arrest as a clamp down on students, saying that it was quite detestable and condemnable.
Asked how the incident took place, the SUG President narrated: “While I was in a students’ meeting in Enugu, a student called and told me that around 5 pm/6 pm, armed men invaded the school cafeteria with two Hilux vans and a Sienna bus, and released a gunshot in the air.
“Due to the manner in which they arrived, and owing to the stories of unknown gunmen in the society and the shooting in the air, the students who were in front of the cafeteria chilling with drinks at that evening hour started running away for their safety.
“In the process, the armed men started running after the students, surrounded them all, then entered the cafeteria and arrested everybody inside the cafeteria, including those who were playing snooker, games, female students who came to the cafeteria to charge their phones and other electronic gadgets, the staff and manager of the cafeteria and members of our university security.
“On hearing this, I called our school CSO to ascertain if he is aware of such an incident in the school, he said no, that he was not aware, and that he would get to the scene with his men immediately.
“On getting there with his men, he noticed that the armed men were members of the Anti-Cult Squad, Enugu. It was there the school CSO, who they tried to intimidate, was able to identify and identified two of the arrested persons who were members of the school security operatives, and the two people were released.
“They humiliated our students including the female who they later released after seizing their phones and power banks. Then they moved away with every other male student there.
“I contacted the Vice-Chancellor and the DSS officers in charge of students, both the one in Agbani and that of Enugu. They were not aware of such an arrest, but they have swung into action for the release of the students, they assured me”.
He therefore called on the state governor, Dr Peter Mbah to intervene in the matter and use his good office to facilitate the release of the students. “Our students should not be subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading punishment for no just cause,” the students’ leader said.
The spokesman of the state police command, Deputy Superintendent Daniel Ndukwe only said that the police could not have arrested 50 students in one fell swoop.
He promised to get back to give an official response but hadn’t done so as of the time of filing this report.
