Many Injured as students fight tanker drivers in Futminna

The students of the Federal University of Technology (Futminna) and a passing tanker had earlier on Thursday, 26th September 2019 rioted against each other as a result of an accident that occurred around the school premises.

The accident reportedly occurred during the SUG campaign in preparation for the union’s election proposed to take place on the 28th of September 2019.

As the students attempted to move their campaign to the campus at Bosso, a tanker driver reportedly hit a student while trying to overtake a car on the road. The concerned student had to be rushed to the hospital after sustaining a tragic injury but the tanker driver allegedly showed no remorse for his actions

According to eyewitnesses: “Instead of apologizing to the students and [trying to] settle the matter amicably, the driver said ‘It is just one student out of many.” This statement inflamed the student body, leading to a serious riot between the students, the drivers and the indigenes of the community.

A student at the scene of the incident who identified herself as Mariam said the driver did not apologize and did not show any remorse for his action.

“When the incident happened on that day, the driver did not feel sorry, this prompted the students’ action by blocking the road and give no room for any vehicle movement. Later on, the tanker drivers gathered and started all sorts of unfriendly acts.”

“They said they are going to burn down the students’ houses around, that is where the indigenes intervened that they can not be burning their fathers’ properties all because of the students.”

“It was later on that they started fighting the students with knives, weapons and even entered the school to destroy properties and burned down two cars,” she explained.

While speaking to this reporter, another student who identified himself as  Adetoro Opeyemi explained: “A student was standing on one of the campaign cars and a tanker was coming from behind the car, upon seeing this, the student jumped down from the car and the tanker hit him, this later caused a leg injury. 

“Students tried to stop the driver but he did not. After view minutes, he parked at a nearby filling station where the students rushed to him to explain the havoc he had caused. The driver’s reply got the students angry. Even though he escaped, [things later escalated into a fight between] his fellow drivers, indigenes and students.”

“It started around 1 pm on Thursday and [was] resolved later in the evening on Friday,” he added.

In a phone interview with the SUG Public relation officer, Abdulrasheed Ibrahimconfirmed the cause of the riot. 

“But before we knew it later that day, the drivers and the villagers joined to fight the students and started destroying properties, including cars.”

“After the intervention of the government; the police came around and that worsened the whole thing. They were throwing teargas at the students [injuring many students]. Even the SUG president and one of the vice-presidential aspirants were wounded.”

“As a result of this, all academic activities have been put on hold for now, and instructions have been given that the tankers parked around the school should be moved away. The school is supposed to commence the semester examination in two weeks time, and the management does not want to calendar to be affected, so academic activities should resume by Monday,” he concluded.

The Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA) is a Federal Government established post-secondary educational institution located in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.