•Late Francis Palowei
Some youths from Amassoma, the host community of Niger Delta University (NDU) located at the Wilberforce Island axis of the community have killed a final-year student from the Social Science Education department of the institution, identified as Francis Palowei, over N150 levy at a sand dump.
A resident of the community who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the sand dump is a popular spot where students often go to relax, socialise and climb the height of it for fun, reports Nigerian Tribune.
He said some youths in the area, seeing the concentration of students to the sand dump, then took it upon themselves to levy any students who comes to that spot to relax, especially those who wanted to climb to the top of the sand dump.
He said on Monday evening, the murdered final-year student came to the spot with some of his friends and was heading to the top of the dump when some youths demanded N500 instead of the statutory N150, a situation that led to an argument, the community youths invited other youths, including a notorious cultist, and allegedly beat him to death.
He said the death of late Francis Palowei, a native of Obrigbene town in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state, has left his family, friends and the entire university community in mourning.
The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr Ndoni Igezi, who confirmed the incident today, described it as unfortunate, stating that police are already on top of the situation to curtail any escalation.
He said the sand dump is located at the end of the community, though the owner of the dump is not charging any fees from it, some youths in the community normally collect N150 to allow people to climb to the top to have fun.
The police spokesman in Bayelsa State, ASP Musa Muhammed, also confirmed the incident in Yenagoa, adding that the Commissioner of Police has already deployed additional security personnel to the area to restore calm and orderliness.
According to him, the police have launched a manhunt to arrest the suspected killers.
