The Last time a riot occurred in Crawford University, it was a first and that was in 2013; Wanton destruction of school properties was recorded. This time around, it is in 2016 and another riot has occurred in the male hostel of accommodation in Crawford University. It happened on the night of Friday 12th February 2016. In a situation where the school is still smarting from the unabashed manner in which one of its male students (name withheld), ran mad, this was a sad, flabbergasting and bizarre incident. Sadly, it is (amongst the students) one which is somewhat considered a vendetta by some students against the school.
In Yoruba-land, an adage says “eshin iwaju ni ti ehin n wo sare”, meaning: “it is the horse that is at the front that the ones at the back look forward to whilst running.” Looking at the surrounding academic ambience in Nigeria, there have been recent reports of how students demonstrated violence at their respective authorities for different degrees of reasons. Of recent, there has been violence at YABATECH, UNILAG, and ABUAD. These riots were stemmed as a result of one thing or the other. This must have been the catalysis -factor in the case of Crawford University as some male students rioted in anger and disdain at the school on Friday night. The riot was a form of protest by some students in anger at the action of a security official of the institution who allegedly assaulted a male student and broke his phone in the process. The unidentified student was allegedly walking to get food at one of the food stalls located inside the school popularly know within the school as FFO, when he was accosted by the said security official who commanded him to go back (apparently in accordance with the regulation of the school as regards late night activities by the students). The student refused to go back and the security official allegedly slapped him in the process. The student’s phone broke and he protested in anger at the action. He was taken to the security post f the school and was remanded there.
According to unconfirmed reports, some students who were present at the scene were very angry at the incident which led them to protest in anger to the security officials who were also around that night at the place, but their protest were ignored. This allegedly led to the riot later in the night in the male hostel of accommodation. Unconfirmed reports says that the riot was as a result of the students being slapped and his phone being broken while other sources claim that the riot was buoyed by the fact that the school has in the past month, came hard on students as regards health, drug-taking, smoking, illicit pairing of students, immoral activities amidst other nefarious activities which were allegedly being perpetrated by the students.
The riot which started around 9:30 pm in the night was mainly concentrated in the male hostel where the window frames and louvers of unoccupied buildings in the hostel were destroyed by the students; stones were thrown at the members of the security officials on duty. The most prominent part of the damage caused by the riot was the complete destruction of the Hostel’s common room. Window frames, Louvers were broken, window nets were torn and wooden frames were cut and destroyed. There was an almost wanton destruction of properties in the hostel as the students ran riot in the act.
Crawford University earlier this year had published a revised edition of its student’s handbook which was given to the matriculating students in January. The handbook, was revised as a result of the perceived need to re-enact and re-engage discipline in the students conduct as it was widely becoming a uncontrollable situation whereby the students conduct depicts immorality, lack of moral sanity and also, wanton disobedience on the part of the students. Upon a closer examination of the handbook, it would be discovered that most of the revised laws, rules were constructed in a way that the students would have no choice than to obey. An example is the sanction of in-campus community service for a week for lateness to church, Suspension/expulsion for smoking or abuse of hard drugs etc. These rules and others, are regarded as “harsh, unfavorable and unbelievable” by a student (name withheld), who has been an unfortunate victim of these sanctions.
Contrary to popular opinion that the riot was a direct consequence of the security official’s action on the night, it was alleged by a worker in the male hostel that the students who started the riot were the friends of those students who have been suspended or expelled by the school for varying offences ranging from drug-taking, hemp smoking, substance-abuse etc. The worker, who doesn’t wish to be identified, argued that the students were angry at the fact that the school is gaining ground and making progress in its fight against social vices amongst its students, hence, the retaliatory act in form of the riot. He claimed that the pretext of the slap incident is non-substantiating and unbelievable. He said “They are angry that we are being successful in our fight against smoking, drug-taking, immorality that they do, they think we would be set back by the riot but by Gods grace, we would continue to fish them out. The bad eggs would leave this school ad God would help us”.
The Vice Chancellor ha condemned the act by the students, attributing it to a needless show of anger. During his visit to the hostel in the early hours of Saturday 13th February, He met with the male students and totally condemned the act by the students. He apologized to the students for the assault on one of them whilst at the same time berating the yet-to-be-identified perpetrators of the riot. He was accompanied with most of the university administrative staff during the visit. He promised to do something about the situation.
As at the time of this report, some students have been taken to the security department of the school, apparently to write statements concerning the incident. Hopefully, the concerned segments of the school would take control of the situation. Also, as regards the regulations and rules of the school, there should be a revisiting and restructuring of the handbook if necessary. This would avoid future occurrences like this.
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