News: Gunmen invade ESUT hostel, shoot 3 students

Armed bandits invaded a hostel occupied by students of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, on Friday and shot three students.

The affected students are currently undergoing surgery at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu where they were rushed in the early hours of Saturday.

The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the armed attack said that preliminary investigations revealed that the gunmen could be “student robbers”, assuring that the police would do everything possible to get to the root of the matter.

He could not say if any arrest had been made but he said that the command was already on top of the situation and would give further details after the ongoing investigations.

“From what we gathered when the gunmen attacked some students at the ESUT Unique Lodge, which is mainly Boys Hostel, there was a stiff resistance by the students who succeeded in arresting one of the gunmen.

“The arrested gunman alerted his armed colleagues who returned to the hostel and began shooting indiscriminately during which three of the students were shot and wounded”, the police spokesman said.

A parent of one of the students disclosed that his son who was affected by the attack was undergoing surgery at the hospital by press time.

He said that the student was shot in the stomach and it is suspected that some pellets of the bullet were lodged in his abdomen for which doctors are battling to remove.

The two other victims were also undergoing surgery at the hospital while efforts were being made to contact their parents.

The Unique Hostel where the incident occurred and other hostels within the Agbani Permanent site of the university, according to sources, have been placed under serious security watch as it was suspected that the gunmen could be members of a secret cult.

To forestall a reprisal attack, the source said, the management had taken measures to beef up security at the hostels with plain-clothe policemen deployed to strategic locations.