UNIMAID students push for arrest of soldier who ‘assaulted colleague’

Some students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) have staged a protest over the assault on a 400 level student of the institution, simply identified as Valentine.

A soldier among security personnel deployed in the school had reportedly battered Valentine for wearing camouflage.

Valentine, a student of public administration department in the university, narrated his encounter to TheCable.

“I came out of the hostel around 7am in the morning, and was heading to the commercial area for breakfast, suddenly I met a soldier who stopped me and told me to squat,” he said.

“He told me to remove the trouser and asked me to frog jump to my room. He didn’t tell me of my offence.”

Valentine’s colleagues who got irritated by the soldier’s action told him not to observe the punishment anymore.

They also confronted the soldier and told him that he had no right to intimidate a student on campus.

Haruna Bamayi, a student who witnessed the incident, said: “As I saw students reacting to the soldier, I requested him to present his identity card, since he is not in a uniform, but he failed to do so. We, therefore, moved to security office from there.”

The aggrieved students reported the matter to the security men in the school.

Demanding justice for Valentine, the students said legal action should be taken against the soldier.

Babati Hanifa, the students union government president of the institution, commended the students for confronting the “act of impunity on campus”.

Hanifa said that the student was released and the soldier had been arrested and will be handed over to the security for proper action.