THE residents and students in Mubi, the Adamawa State commercial nerve centre, located in the northern part of the state, cannot forget the night of October 1, this year, when Nigeria marked its 52nd independence anniversary.It was not that the celebration continued into the night. Far from it! And they wished it were so.On that fateful bloody night, residents and students of the three higher institutions in the town, which has over time become notorious for attacks, went to bed after the independence celebration with the hope of attending lectures the following day (Tuesday).But that was not to be, as it turned out to be a dream never to be fulfilled for some of them, who were slaughtered by some unidentified heartless gunmen that invaded their hostels located off the schools campus.The blood-thirsty murderers arranged the students on the ground, like cows in an abattoir, and shot them, like condemned armed robbers or military coup plotters.At the end of the mayhem, the gunmen, suspected to be Boko Haram sect members, killed over 48 students from the three tertiary institutions, while over 50 were injured.The Guardian gathered that 26 of the killed students were from the Federal Polytechnic, while others were from the Adamawa State University and School of Health Technology.A top officer of the Polytechnic, who confirmed the killing in the school, said the dead students were attacked in the school hostels outside the school campus, where private houses were hired by the school management for students to reduce their accommodation challenges.'Because of accommodation problem, the school decided to hired some private houses for students. Those houses are only occupied by students of our school and it was those hostels that the gunmen attacked in the early hours of Tuesday,' the source stated.The Guardian learnt that the gang, numbering over 50, invaded the different hostels and other residential houses around shooting sporadically, as hundreds of students ran in all directions to avoid death, in the process of which some of were killed.Already, the Adamawa State Police Command has announced the arrest of some people in connection with the massacre.According to Command spokesman, Muhammed Ibrahim, the force headquarters was to come out with the fact regarding what really transpired in Mubi, saying investigation into killings was in progress.He claimed that relatives of the killed students said that the assailants called them by their names before killing them.'Honestly, there is insider in this killing. We cannot rule out the possibility that the attack is carried out by one of these groups- Boko Haram, cultism and politicians- but investigation will reveal the real perpetrators of the crimes,' he stated.Ibrahim disclosed that among those killed were students who recently won an election, prompting the police to believe that the massacre might be connected with the outcome of the election.'There was an election at the Federal Polytechnic and the second day after the election, winners were declared and killings took place.'There have been arrests, but we cannot say that those arrested are the perpetrators of the crime, and we will not disclose the numbers of those arrested, as we don't want to jeopardise our investigation,' he stated.He assured that the killing would not be taken lightly and the perpetrators would be brought to book.Ibrahim stressed that the closure of the institutions would not affect police investigation, as there would not be a hiding place for the perpetrators.According to Ibrahim Janet Tarfa, a Higher National Diploma II (HND II) student of the Polytechnic, who witnessed the killings, the operations last for over two hours.'We were in the hostel with some of our male school mates that night when some men in military uniform with guns entered and asked all the male students to lie down and we females were locked inside one room and our handsets seized from us.'The next thing we started hearing was gun shots. Despite our shouting and crying for two hours, the operation lasted for two hours in the students village and nobody come to our rescue.'Tarfa, who was wept while narrating the incident, disclosed that the gunshots were in different directions in the students' village.She added: 'While we were shouting in our detention room, we were hearing gunshots and cries for help from other hostels.'It was as if the entire Mubi town was invaded by foreign military troops.'Another survivor, who identify himself as John Sule Musa, a HND I student also o f the Polytechnic, said he was on his way to the village from the campus when he heard multiple gunshots in the village and ran into an uncompleted building, where he hid till the end of the operation.'I wanted to make phone calls, but the fear of heavy sounds of the gunshots could not allow me to even touch my mobile phone. I hid there until the following day.'I was hearing people shouting for help, but there was no help anywhere for them,' he lamented.Investigations showed that the gunmen also killed some other civilians and an ex-soldier.A lecturer with the Polytechnic, who spoke to The Guardian on condition of anonymity, dismissed any link of the killings with the result of the elections at the institution held on Saturday in a peaceful environment.He described any linkage between the two by some top government officials and security officers as not only barbaric, but a wicked way to denied Nigerians and those who lost their children and relations the true information of what happened in Mubi on the night of independence day.He expressed disappointment with press statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Kobis T. Ari, insisting that only one student was killed during the attacked.The lecturer urged the SSG to issue a public apology to the parents that lost their children during the attacked.'The police said 25 were killed, but the SSG said it is only one person. But we in Mubi know very well that over 40 people were killed during the attack,' he maintained.A top member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, said: 'I still find it difficult to believe that over 40 people can be killed in a small town, like Mubi, during curfew and the soldiers, police and SSS cannot tell Nigerians why they should remain on government pay roll.'He said Nigerians and the schools authorities in need some explanation from the security agents operating in Mubi and called on the federal government to constitute an investigation panel to find out what led to the killing. The Adamawa State government has described the killing as barbaric and gruesome and vowed to work with security agents to bring the perpetrators to book.Though Mubi had witnessed several attacks in the past, never had it been a massacre like this and it remains uncertain when the institutions would reopen for academic activities.
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