Arrest, Detention of Madonna Varsity Students Spark Protest in Awka

Students of tertiary institutions in Anambra State under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Tuesday protested the arrest and detention of six students of Madonna University in the state who were accused of criticising the policies of the institution on social media at the Federal High Court in Awka, the state capital, therefore blocking its entrance.

It was gathered that the six students and a lecturer of the university were arrested and detained since February this year.

The protest was inspired by the proposed arraignment of the students in the court, prompting the students to block the entrance, asking for the freedom of their fellow students.

Vice President of National Affairs of NANS, Chidi Ilozobe, who led the protest, described Madonna University management action as anti-democratic and primitive.

According to him, "We came to register our dissatisfaction on how the management of Madonna University is treating our members.

"Sometime in February this year, we got information that the police, following a petition written by the management of the school, arrested some students of the institution.

"On the petition, they alleged that these students were criminals, cultists and fraudsters, but we know that our fellow students are not kidnappers, fraudsters or cultists.

"We decided to investigate the matter and understood that the petition was written to get the accused out of the NYSC camp and their parents’ houses.

"A further investigation revealed that the school management was acting because the students wrote against them on social media.

"One of them wrote that ‘Good lecturers are scarce. Madonna University administration should be nice to our lecturers or a good number of them will resign’.”

Ilozobe stated that "we are here to tell the Inspector-General of Police (IG) that they were told lies. Our students are not criminals or (kidnappers). They just wrote on Facebook and Whatsapp. We have freedom of expression.”

The students threatened to shut down the university if the court eventually passed an ‘erroneous’ judgment and sent their colleagues, who they described as innocent, to jail.

Meanwhile, the absence of the Presiding Judge, Justice Babatunde Quadri, forced the matter to be adjourned to July 2 for further hearing while the students were remanded at Awka prison.