Attack on female varsity student triggers protest in Kano

A female student of Bayero University, Kano, was stabbed by an unidentified assailant on Thursday triggering a protest by her colleagues.

The victim, Victoria Ochene, who is a level-2 mass communication student, was returning from her reading around 3 AM on Thursday when she was attacked in her hostel on campus.

She was at the clinic receiving treatment at the time this report was ready for publication on Friday.

According to other students, the assailant also stole phones in the hostel while they were asleep.

Following the attack, students protested all the way to the office of the Vice-Chancellor, Muhammad Bello, who addressed them.

The VC said he was not aware of the issue of the assault and the theft of phones in the hostel which the students claimed had been happening for a long time. He, however, assured the students that he would take appropriate measures to see that there is no recurrence of such incident.

Our correspondent spoke to another victim Medinat Onizie whose phone was stolen during the incident. According to her, she woke up as Ms Ochene screamed, woke up other roommates, only for them to discover that other phones were stolen in the room and that Ms Ochene was stabbed by the assailant.

When she was asked if that was the first time this issue occurred, she said “it has been happening; even last semester, there was a lady who was hit on her head while she went to fetch water and as a result, lost her memory. Concerning the issue of phones being stolen, it has happened times without number”

She added that “the VC asked those of us whose phones were stolen to put down our names.”