One Feared Dead in Students’ Rampage

One person was feared dead and several others injured as police , yesterday in Lokoja, the Kogi state  capital, clashed with protesting secondary school students who invaded the Lugard House, seat of Kogi State Government,  in protest of the non-payment of the salaries of teachers and other civil servants by the state government.  N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   Also yesterday, in compliance with the directive of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, the civil servants  commenced an indefinite strike action in protest of the non-payment of salaries of workers, indiscriminate removal of names of civil servants from payment vouchers and what they referred to as high handedness of Messrs Sally Tibbot, the consultant engaged by the state government to conduct staff audit exercise aimed at eliminating ghost workers from the civil service. Thousands of the students, drawn from Bishop Crowder Memorial Secondary School, Government Science Secondary School, Bishop Delis Secondary School, Muslim Community Secondary School and Government Day Secondary School, all in Lokoja,  were irked that their teachers were to proceed on strike again barely a month after they called off a strike that lasted four months due to government's insensitivity to their plight. The students noted that a situation whereby government would continue to treat teachers with contempt and remain insensitive to their plight is no longer acceptable to them. They also said  they  would not tolerate anything that could lead to the teachers embarking on another strike, stressing that  they have been on the receiving end of frequent face-offs between government and teachers in the state. Trouble started when students of Bishop Crowder Memorial Secondary School, who resumed schooling last month after eight months of closure of their school and were to start their examinations yesterday got to school and were told by the teachers that the examinations could not commence because of the non-payment of their salaries and removal of their names from payment vouchers. Like soldiers ready for battle, the students moved to Bishop Delis Secondary School which is about 300 metres to their school where they were joined by their mates to set up bonfires in front of Bishop Delis' gate. The students were however dislodged by policemen from the Area Command Office opposite the School who used teargas canisters to disperse them while the Principal of the school was whisked to the police station to make statements. Using cell phones, the students thereafter communicated with their mates in the remaining three schools after they were dislodged by the police and after mobilising themselves, they headed for Government House to register their protest to the Governor who, unfortunately had traveled abroad on an economic mission.             On getting to Government House, they were prevented from gaining entrance by security operatives who dispersed them with teargas while the students responded by hauling stones and other dangerous objects at the policemen and thereafter pulled down the Governor's billboards mounted along Government House Road .After being dispersed from Government House, the students moved into the town and set up bonfires at various spots including Federal Medical Centre Junction, Specialist Hospital Junction, Old Living Faith Junction as well as Nostalgia Hotel Junction where they again clashed with security agents who fired live ammunitions in a bid to dislodge the rampaging students leading to a boy being hit by a stray bullet. Speaking with THISDAY on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Salisu,  revealed that several policemen who sustained varying degrees of injuries were receiving treatment in the hospital while several vehicles were vandalised just as he disclosed that those arrested among the students were being detained at the police headquarters in Lokoja.