•CP Shehu Nadada
Students, staff and residents within the neighbourhood of Federal University of Lafia (FULafia) are living in fear, following a threat letter from bandits.
Recall that prior to the abduction of eight students in November, last year, a similar letter was sent to Gandu community, a nearby settlement harbouring over 40 per cent of the institution’s students, reports The Guardian.
Last week, a letter believed to have emanated from bandits who terrorise and kidnap students and staff of FULafia, was dropped. It notified the residents of Gandu and the university community of plans to abduct and kill victims, henceforth, without any demand for ransom.
The letter led to an urgent security meeting presided over by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Prof. Aleruchi Chuku.
During the meeting, Chuku urged stakeholders to work towards enhancing peace and security by designing a broad based action plan for the university and its neighbouring communities.
While emphasising the importance of collaborative effort among stakeholders, the vice chancellor urged residents to be vigilant and support the university’s efforts in providing a suitable and crime-free environment for teaching and learning.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Partnerships), Prof. Samaila Usman Dakyes, who chaired the meeting, called for a collaborative drive to tackle insecurity within and around the institution’s environment.
Dakyes said the meeting was necessary to ensure the safety of life and property of students and residents of the communities.
In separate remarks, stakeholders noted that the task of securing life and property must be collective. They called on community leaders to be vigilant and cooperate with security agencies by providing timely information that could address threats in their domains.
Staff members lamented that they live in fear because of the rampaging criminals. One of them said: “One of our members, who was kidnapped, died recently after his release. He could not recover from the molestation he went through at the hands of his abductors.”
