By Ahmed Muhammed Danasabe, Lokoja
The joint security team of Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja, on Tuesday, arrested three students of the institution and five others suspected to be members of a secret society and hard drug peddlers during the ongoing second-semester examination for the 2023/2024 academic session.
This was contained in a press statement issued by Uredo Omale, Director, Public Relations and Protocol Kogi State Polytechnic.
According to the statement, the apprehended students who are all of HND II in the Department of Business Administration include:
Ajayi Oluwaseun Oladipo (Matric No.2022/HND/BUS/275), Isenre Elijah Ayomide (Matric No.2022/HND/BUS/146) and Omonijo Sunday (Matric. No2022/HND/BUS/181).
The arrested five non-students who are all from Ekiti State but based in Abuja are Otitoju Christopher, Babatope Ayomide, Isaiah Babatunde, Shina Ayodeji and Makinde Olalekan.
The arrest of the suspects was a result of proactive measures put in place by the Management of the institution to checkmate infiltration of cultists and other outlawed groups and individuals who were reported to be planning to enter the campus with guns and other dangerous weapons in connivance with some cyber-crime suspects popularly known as yahoo.
Their intent, it was gathered, was to cause harm to their targets and commotion on the campus during the ongoing second-semester examination.
This was in the guise of their end-of-examination graduation “celebration” rituals which the Management had earlier banned due to security concerns.
In the build-up to the ongoing second-semester examination, the Polytechnic Management got intelligence reports that some bad elements suspected to be into cybercrime, cultism and illicit drugs had perfected plans to import their members from other states and institutions to cause mayhem on the campus.
To prevent the occurrence, Management decided to intensify further security strategies by banning all forms of the second-semester examination on the campus in whatever guise.
This decision was duly communicated to the students through a circular issued by the Chief Security Officer, containing the outlawed activities during and after the examination.
The circular was issued after a series of meetings with the Students Union Government (SUG), the National Association of Kogi State Students (NAKOSS) and the Departmental Presidents to sensitise and caution the students to desist from any form of inimical behaviour during the examination for their good.
The Polytechnic Management also took further steps with meetings and setting up of the Examination Security Management Committee with all Deans, Chief Security Officer (CSO), student representatives, the Chief Imam and the Polytechnic Chaplain as members, and mandated to devise security strategies against the planned infiltration by bad elements and ensure the orderly conduct of the examination.
In addition, the services of the security agencies such as the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), and the Vigilante Group were sought and their personnel were deployed.
One important additional proactive security strategy adopted by the Committee was to prevent students from using their cars and motorcycles beyond the designated car park on the campus during the examination.
Furthermore, all vehicles were thoroughly searched and more plain clothes security operatives were deployed to monitor the movement of those who had no business on the campus during the examination.
These security strategies and efforts paid off with the arrest of the three students and their five imported non–student mercenaries.
The Polytechnic Management started observing a dangerous sign on Monday 15th July, 2024 when the Department of Public Administration HND II students wrote their last paper.
The Management got an intelligence report of the infiltration of some notorious old students of 2018/2019 sets who are suspected to be cultists alongside some imported mercenaries from Edo and Delta states that came that day to cause mayhem using the style of motorcycle, spraying of naira notes while seating on their vehicles on the highway.
