Yesterday,
we were shocked with the news and pictures of the gruesome murder of
four students of University of Port-Harcourt. The naked pictures of the
students showing them paraded, beaten with their bodies soaked in blood
and mud has left me feeling unsettled since I saw it. Next time I see
the message *viewer discretion is advised*, I would definitely think
twice before viewing them.
When
the news went viral yesterday, it was reported that they were accused
of stealing phones and laptops and were beaten to death. However, other
accounts of the incident have emerged.
Some
people claimed the students were actually cultists who terrorized the
community and at the time they were caught, they had dangerous weapons
on them.
On
Twitter, someone using the handle @Penny_sugababe who says she stays in
Port Harcourt recounted her view of the incident. Although a search for
her original tweets shows that her account has either been deleted or
suspended (or probably it was just my internet connection), her tweets
were retweeted several times.
She
started by saying “Gosh! So because the criminals that were killed in
PH today were cute, people are calling it injustice…Smh… Nigerians sha”
Then she continued with more tweets which have been trending on Twitter
She concluded with more tweets saying “They chose a wrong path and they knew the end…. Did they expect an angry mob to pat dem on dia backs and give them ice-cream? Oh please”
“Good night folks, pray for your loved ones, never to join a wrong crowd or be misguided. The fate of those boys…. It is well.”
She received quite a bashing for her tweets anyway. But I came across a similar witness account on a site called Date360. This was reportedly written by a student:
The
Students involved are Cultists, They went to attack someone, they were
about 5 in number, so on their way out, A girl saw them and screamed,
these alerted people and they attacked them.. One of them escaped and
the remaining 4 were caught with Weapons and beaten by a man , Hitting
them Mercilessly and bringing them to a slow and painful death.. The man
later Got Fuel and poured it in their mouth and lit it., Burning one
student!, The man was stopped with the arrival of the police so he
couldn’t burn the rest, they were later taken to the mortuary where the
families of the deceased Came to claim the corpse…
More
reports have claimed that the boys were killed by one man. While
looking at the pictures, I noticed one particular man holding an
insanely big stick over a boy’s head who was already weak, bloody and
pleading for his life. I saw the man in another picture putting a tyre
across another boy’s neck.
I
hope this helps the police in their investigations. The governor of
Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi has reportedly ordered the immediate arrest
of the killers of the students.
What
baffles me is that this act was carried out in broad day light and in
the midst of so many people. Were the boys’ sins so grievous that no one
could stop the men who were beating them up?
I
think not just the state governor, but the President has to intervene
in this case. Despite what they might have done, this sort of jungle
justice, beating young men to death on the streets in the midst of
everyone including children just doesn’t sound right.
Culled from: BellaNaija
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