University of Buea (UB) administration is on
red alert, fighting- tooth and nail -to contain a widely denounced students’ rebellion on campus, barely three
months after a similar students’ uprising was quelled there.
The UB students’ rioting -interchangeably
referred to as students’ terrorism by some quarters has been widely condemned
on account of their violent approach, and demands, most of them said to be
unreasonable.
Armed troops deployed to help restore law and
order on campus, confronted and arrested several student suspects for
prosecution, especially as confrontation between students and staff, left many seriously
injured and hospitalized at the Buea Regional Hospital.
The Recorder learned that alleged strike mastermind Remmy Sigala was arrested,May 18 and is in police
custody,programmed to be arraigned with about 20 others
on May 21
The University
of Buea Students Union (UBSU)-organized rebellion, which started last week,
also resulted in the vandalization, by students and reportedly infiltrated by
hoodlums, of UB property estimated to cost about FCFA 100 million, bloody assaults
on at least 10 staff and death threats from students directed to particular lecturers
viz: Dr. Ernest Molua, Dr.Kingsly L. Ngange and Dr. Ekoka Molindo, all from the
same tribe with the Vice-Chancellor, Dr.Nalova Lyonga, who has emphatically vowed
that, she won’t allow student unionism promote illegality and disorder,in the UB,Cameroon's first Anglo-saxon varsity
The riot master-minds had chased away other
students who disregarded their call for the strike from classrooms.
As at the time of posting this report,
reliable UB sources told The Recorder that the Faculty of Agriculture's Poultry Farm House was
burnt down to ashes at about midnight, Saturday 18 . It is worthy
of note tha,t Dr.Ernest Molua –one of the students’ targets,
teaches in Faculty of Agriculture.
The latest act of vandalism and an alleged explosion
by some students of a locally –made explosive, last Friday, during a football match between Njala Quan Sports Academy and
UB Football Team, watched by the Vice-Chancellor Dr.Nalova
Lyonga, sources said, is an indication that, some of the armed student rebels have
merely retreated into their hideouts probably to revise their strategies and to
avoid the vigilance of security agents, now still hunting for suspects on the run.
The irate students ,reportedly armed with
dangerous weapons such as cutlasses and axes, had earlier burnt the car of
the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Julius Ngoh, vandalized the property including computers in offices of
Dr. Kingsley Ngange and Rev.Dr.Ekoka Molindo, whom they accused of working
against of the interest of UBSU,by publicly testifying against them.
Dr Kingsly
Ngange , who is Faculty
officer, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, is reportedly still receiving threats
in his mobile phone. But he is for now safe.
Reverend Dr Ekoka Molindo, who is the Vice-Dean, Faculty of Education ,is said
to have narrowly escaped death
Other valuable varsity property was equally
damaged. The UBSU- launched
rebellion, which continues to attract sharp criticisms from authorities, many UB
students, parents and the civil society, is intended to pressure the
Vice-Chancellor to grant them certain demands. They include: the withdrawal of
all court cases against suspect students, resit for students who did not write
first semester examinations due to the previous strike action, permission for
UBSU to organize elections, the award of President Biya’s scholarship to
students with a GPA of at least 2 on 4, as well as the payment of 3000frs each
for students willing to participate in Cameroon National Day (May 20)
celebration.
The UB administration, which has always opted
for dialogue as a means of resolving any crisis, in addressing the students’
worries, said it could only do what was legally correct, and called on the
students to be law-abiding and responsible.
After the February student rioting, an angry
Dr. Nalova Lyonga, had revealed that the UBSU constitution has never been
accepted and endorsed by the UB Administration, noting that the student union
has been operating due to administrative tolerance
The previous UBSU-organized strike was
intended to force the UB administration address some problems negatively
affecting students’ welfare. The students’ demands included the reestablishment
of on -campus businesses such as photocopiers said to have been suspended;
improved online registration, dialogue with students, payment of a certain
amount as youth day march past dues, speedy issuance of transcripts, extension
of reading time on campus, and quality food in the restaurant.
Vice- Chancellor Nalova Lyonga, just as she
did during the first student strike under her leadership, has strongly pleaded
with the Government to help in restoring total law and order on UB Campus.
It is widely thought that
some lecturers and politicians are the brains behind the repeated rebellions on
UB campus for their selfish motives.
In a February press conference,
the UB Administration admitted that they had evidence that some lecturers were promoting
disorder and lawlessness on campus and threatened to deal with them.
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