3 students shot as UNICAL holds SUG election

The Students Union Government election at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) took a frightening dimension recently with the shooting of three students by the security men monitoring the exercise. 

The August 6 election turned bloody when a 400-level student of Education Administration and Planning, Ndifreke Ukpong and two other students were hit by stray bullets  from security men who wanted to disperse the students from the polling centres.

Our reporters, who monitored the exercise, observed that after weeks of intense campaigns, screening of aspirants, and adoption of candidates for the various positions by several students’ bodies, the SUG elections took off on the scheduled date with a cloud of anxiety in the air.

Aspirants had a busy day mobilising their supporters under tensed election atmosphere. The election recorded a high turn-out of students, who occupied every available space at the Hogan Bassey Open Pavilion.

Voting materials arrived at 11:30am, escorted by armed security agents and the University Electoral Committee (CUECO) chairman, Dr. Igiri, with other members of the committee.  Also in attendance were members of the UNICAL security department led by the chief security officer, who were drafted to the centre to observe the election and ensure peaceful conduct.

Voting commenced at 12noon, after verification of credible voters. However, a lapse in the voters’ register was detected few minutes later. It was noticed that names of some students who registered for the election were not on the voters’ register. A separate polling boot, named special centre, was created for such students to enable them cast their votes after the necessary verification.

Few hours into the election, the process turned sour when the exercise was abruptly stopped by the moderator. He said he had been directed to stop the voting exercise, even when some of the students were waiting to do so.

His decision to stop the election provoked the students waiting to cast their votes. They insisted that the polls be left open for them to exercise their franchise, but this plea fell on deaf ears. The electoral committee and the security men took away the ballot boxes for counting of votes. This action didn’t go down well with the students, who followed the electoral committee members and the security personnel chanting “…we no go gree, we must vote, we want tovote.”

Some students started to haul stones at the security personnel. In a bid to control the agitations and save the situation, the security personnel shot sporadically  into the air, but the action didn’t scare away the students.

In the ensuing confusion, three students were hit by bullets. The shooting heightened the crisis, with fears of a recurrence of the August 25 and 26 2011 students’ unrest.

It took the intervention of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. James Epoke, the SUG President, Comrade Eka Bassey and the university’s Dean of Students Affairs, Prof. Eyong Ubana Eyong to save the situation from deteriorating.

Epoke announced the suspension of the election and also assured students that, the management would look into the shooting incidence. He assured the aggrieved students that the victims were rushed to the hospital and were recovering.