Students of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, protested on Monday over growing hoodlums attacks that have claimed the lives of five fellow students in the last year.

The angry students, led by Geoffrey George, President of Poly’s Student Union Government (SUG), who convened the protest at the school gate In defiance of management’s warning, also lamented rampant brutality and extortion by the Police on the student community in the area.

The protesters who assembled as early as 8 am flew placards with various inscriptions such as “End Police Brutality Now,” “Protect, Save, Don’t Abuse,” and “This Extortion Must Stop,” among others.

George, the SUG President, said the students were fed up living under the growing dangers to their lives following last week’s trending video on social media where a student was seen being brutalised and dragged on a road by a team of policemen, leaving the student with severe blisters and bruises.

George said, “Students face extortion by policemen in Ikot Ekpene. We are not safe, especially for students living in the communities (off campus) within the school environment.

“Hoodlums snatch phones from students and even kill them. We have buried more than five students in the last one year. They were killed by robbers who broke into their houses, snatched their phones and killed them while police looked the other way.”

Another student who spoke anonymously said, “The Rector called the SUG Executives this morning and warned that the protest should not continue, but we say no because students are in danger.

“Nobody will stop us. We must cry out for the world to know that the police are not helping us here. Our colleagues are dying while they are busy extorting money from poor students.”

Police Public Relations Officer Akwa Ibom State Command DSP Timfon John responded that the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Baba Mohammed Azare, has invited the students to a meeting to resolve the issues affecting them.

“The CP has invited the students to a meeting this morning. We are waiting for them to come. There would be no protest. Those students you saw at the school gate this morning are preparing to come for meeting with the CP”, DSP John stated. (Vanguard)