Students of the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTEC) on
Tuesday stormed the Governor’s office in Calabar, protesting the death
of their colleagues.
The students, who came in their hundreds, were however, stopped from
going inside the premises, as the governor was not in the office as at
the time to receive them.
Led by one Prince Harmony, the students said one of their colleagues,
Daniel Asuquo, who was a student in the department of Architecture, was
one of the two people killed during an incident of electrocution in the
school.
“We are here to protest the constant loss of lives in Calabar due to
frequent electrocution. In April, we lost some of our students and now,
we have lost an 18-year-old student whose prospects have been cut
short,” Harmony complained.
He added: “We blame the state governor because for a long time, there
is no water in the city and when fire fighters were called upon to
intervene, they said they had no water. If there was water in the state,
perhaps, our colleague would not have died.”
The students, who attempted to defy security instructions at the
gate, only behaved themselves when they noticed that the governor was
nowhere near the office.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Students and Youths
Mobilization, Prince Michael Nku later came and addressed the students,
telling them government was going to assist the family of the victims.
“When the last incident happened in April, the governor gave
instruction that all structures under high tension wire be demolished.
We don’t want this kind of thing to continue. But I can assure you that
the governor, through SEMA, will assist victims of the electrocution,”
Nku said.