Cult members kill Jos varsity student

A BLOODY clash between two rival cult groups at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) over the weekend has left a student dead. Sources claimed that the incident occurred at Gondola, near Angwan Rukuba in Jos North local council, as members of a group went to the room of a member of a rival cult simply identified as Nanfwan, a diploma student at the institution’s Centre for Continuing Education.

According to the eyewitness, the rival cult members shot him four times and he died instantly. They then went close to his body, shattered his head and body with knives.

It was also learnt that the father of the deceased was an All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant while the boy was an only son.

Residents of the area were shocked at such a bloody clash because according to them, “it was the first time something like this was happening here. The hostel had been very peaceful and lively.”

Sources also hinted that the body was immediately taken to the morgue of Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Jos, from where the deceased’s relations removed it for burial on Saturday.

Police Public Relations Officer, Plateau State Police Command, Abuh Emmanuel, confirmed the incident, promising more details later.

On August 4, a combined team of the Special Task Force (STF), the police and the Directorate of State Security (DSS) in Plateau had carried out an operation at UNIJOS, Federal College of Forestry and on people on the streets of some areas known to be notorious for criminal activities and arrested 16 students believed to be cult members.

The institution’s President of the National Association of Political Science Students (NAPSS), Ogene Jude Ogbodo, had earlier said that 16 of their male students were whisked away for no just cause.

Contacted, the STF Spokesman, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, said that last week, three students were killed in the night by people believed to be cult members, and one other killed along the institution’s Bauchi Road campus.

According to Iweha, all the arrested student suspects were currently being investigated, while those not directly involved would be released and those found culpable handed prosecuted.