University Students' Association Demands Justice Over Student Killed In Kaduna Protest
The National Association of University Students (NAUS) has called for the arrest and prosecution of the officers involved in the shooting that killed at least a student of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State during a protest on Monday.
This was conveyed in a statement issued on Monday by the association and signed by its Public Relations Officer, Soneye Abdul-Azeez Lekan (LAS).
The association condemned the killing and described it as unjust.
It noted that the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai rather than addressing the issue, had made a war declaration on the innocent students.
"The report of the unjust attack and eventual killing of Nigerian students by the Nigeria Police under the directive of the unrepentant governor of Kaduna State, El-Rufai, has gotten to the National Secretariat of the National Association Of University Students (NAUS).
"It should be noted that the reckless and anti-people government of El-Rufai in Kaduna state had unpopularly hiked the tuition fees of state-owned institutions. This retrogressive decision of the government had met a counter-action by the students in the state who resorted to lawful protest action, stating clearly the demand for the reversal of the fees. See Also 
"The unrepentant governor rather than addressing the issue had made a war declaration on the innocent students, leading to uncivil attack and shooting of the protesting students. It has been gathered that a student of the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, was shot dead in the ongoing protest in the state."
NAUS described the action of the Kaduna state government as totally condemnable, saying it shall be equally rejected.
"We were not caught by surprise as the government of El-Rufai is popularly known for its infamous policies such as non-payment of salary of civil servants, illegal victimisation of labour leaders, increment in tuition fees among many other anti-people policies he has since so far made.
"This backward reaction of the Kaduna state government is therefore totally condemned and shall be equally rejected by the National Association of University Students (NAUS) with all legal and political actions."
The association called on all labour unions, civil societies, human rights organisations, and well-meaning Nigerians to join them in demanding the arrest of the officers involved.
"We, therefore, call that the officers involved in the shootings should be arrested and prosecuted without delay. Governor El-Rufai has declared war on the masses in Kaduna state and he shall face the consequences thereof," it said.
SaharaReporters earlier broke the news that an undisclosed number of students of the college were on Monday shot by security operatives.
The students were protesting over a hike in school fees when the security operatives made attempts to use force to disperse them.
“We came out to protest over the increase of school fees when we met security operatives outside. They started shooting us, some of our colleagues are dead now,” a student told SaharaReporters.
He added that some students were also arrested and taken away by the police.
Insecurity News AddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
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