FEDERAL HIGH COURT IN RESCUE OF TORTURED STUDENTS OF THE MADONNA UNIVERSITY AND ILLEGAL SURGERY PERFORMED ON THE SPINAL CORD OF ONE OF THE TORTOURED STUDENTS

 One to undergo surgery in Germany, jaws of the other fractured

■ They are suspected cultists –Varsity PRO
■ Other students live in fear and under threat of expulsion

The duo, Stanley Okoye, 23, a final year Civil Engineering student and Ga-Lim Aondofa Lord, escaped death by the whiskers after they were allegedly abducted from their rooms February 3, 2015, in the dead of the night, in commando fashion, by the Chief Security Officer of the university, Okey Ogbonna and the Dean of Student Affairs,

Rev. Fr. Isaac Nginga, a Catholic priest, in company of others and taken to a secluded area on the campus, where they were tortured, brutalized, dehumanized and left to die, but through divine intervention, they lived to tell the story.

Meanwhile, they are still battling to get the results of their degree examinations released. Accompanied by their parents, the victims who visited The Sun office in Onitsha gave a chilling account of what they passed through in the campus, and revealed the alleged moves by the university management to cover up the truth.

In the heartbreaking and graphic account of what happened that fateful night they were abducted, Stanley Okoye recounted that he was woken up from sleep around midnight by one Mr. Kingsley, the school’s Sub- Dean, Mr. Ola, their hall representa­tives, Mr. Wisdom, Mr. Somtoo and Ogbonna Okey, who is the university chief security officer (CSO), all of whom were accompanied by the Dean of Students Affairs, Rev. Fr. Isaac Nginga. He was then bundled into a Toyota 4runner SUV and taken to a bushy end of the campus where their ordeal began.

Continuing, Stanley said: “These people were accompanied that night by an armed soldier, who is among our security guards in school. First, they asked for the room number of my friend and classmate, Lord Ga-Lim and I told them. They picked him up from his hostel and forced both of us into the vehicle. They first drove us to the administrative building and we alighted. Without any question, they descended on us after commanding us to lie down on the gravel. It was Rev. Father Isaac who hit us first with his belt, and the others then joined. They beat us with military belts, planks, batons, iron, stones and other dangerous weapons they could lay their hands on; they dealt mercilessly with us.

“All the while they were treading on us as we lay on the sharp, rough gravel. Not even our plea for mercy or cries for help could melt their hearts. Fr. Isaac even commanded the military officer to shoot us if we attempted to run away. In fact, the soldier fired the shot but narrowly missed me. I was coughing out blood and bleeding profusely but Ogbonna, the CSO hit me with his elbow and I fell down again.

“In that state, I was forced into the trunk of the Lexus SUV of Fr. Isaac; I memorized the registration number ENU 525 CP. My friend was forced into a Toyota 4Runner SUV driven by Rev. Fr. Mamah. With us in the trunk, they moved with crazy speed and even drove past the university security post without stopping. The road was very bad. Even though I was almost slipping into unconsciousness, I still heard the shrill voices of security men at the gate and flashing of lights at them telling them to stop. I later realized that the people were policemen on patrol who suspected the manner of the vehicular movement. That night, our tormentors took us to Agbani police station.

“A police officer on duty at the station asked them whether we were involved in accident but they didn’t answer. In that state, I told the police that we were attacked by the same people, who brought us to the station and the police told them to take us to a specialist hospital or else we would die but they just took us back to the campus and dumped us in the campus clinic. I was in pains and we were struggling to hang on to life. They only gave us painkillers and sleep inducing drugs. It was one of the nurses who saw our condi­tion that night that I whispered my mother’s number into her ears and she used her phone, after hiding the number, to notify my parents about our plight.

“While we were in the hospital, they confiscated our phones, laptops and all our friends and roommates’ phones and communication gadgets to ensure that information about us did not leak to the outside commu­nity. We were dying in installments. On February 5, I was woken up by the CSO, who told me that my father was at the gate and wanted to see me. My dad was shocked when he saw my condition. When he tried to take a picture of me, they seized his camera and smashed it on the ground. After heated argument between my dad and the people at the gate, they immediately bundled my friend and myself to the Elele campus of the university in Rivers State, in the dead of the night without the knowledge of my father. We were in the hospital at Elele for about seven weeks shut out from the people and still under police watch even on our hospital bed. We underwent several surgeries because the doctor confirmed that my zygo­matic bone close to the spine was fractured. My friend had fractures on the lower and upper jaws.

I fainted when I saw my son –Okoye

Narrating how he heard about his son’s ordeal and the frustrations he encountered in the course of seeking justice for the victimized students, Chief Okoye told Sunday Sun that he was in Lagos when his wife called him from their Abuja home.

His words: “My wife informed me that she received a distress call. Only God can describe the trauma we passed through that night before daybreak. I left Lagos for Enugu with first flight, abandoning all I came to do in Lagos, but I never knew that I was in for the greatest shock of my life. On getting to the school gate, I was denied entry by the security peo­ple and left stranded for four hours. When I noticed that the matter was no more a small issue not to talk of the uncertainty surrounding my son’s life, knowing that his phone was already permanently switched off, I sought for external help through the military. It was the high command at the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu that assisted me before they could allow me to enter and stay by the side of the gate while they went to fetch my son. When they brought him, I fainted, upon seeing his condition.

“After regaining composure a bit, I asked him who did that to him and he pointed out the CSO, the Rev Father and some others. I wanted to take his picture in that state for practical evidence but to my surprise, another Catholic priest named Fr. Francis, who came in from Elele, Rivers State with two police escorts ordered the security men to smash my camera which is worth N300,000 to pieces, and they did. They also threatened to shoot me if I didn’t tread with cau­tion. After all arguments, we agreed that the children should be taken to either Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH) or Uni­versity of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla, Enugu State, but to my surprise again, as soon as I left, they bundled the children in that state to their headquarters at Elele, Rivers State.

“The children were kept in­communicado and detained in the hospital too. It was through military assistance that I was able to gain access to see them in the hospital but they refused to release them to us for proper medical care.”

Federal High Court to the rescue

Unable to endure the continued detention of the students at the Elele campus of the university and the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding their health status, Okoye through his lawyer, G. E. Ezeuko, SAN approached the Federal High Court, Enugu, for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the students. He also slammed a civil suit against the Governing Council of  Madonna University and eight other respondents, demanding N1billion compensation for special and general damages and for gross violation of fundamental human rights guaran­teed under the Constitution of Nige­ria and African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

In the Suit No FHC/ EN/M/58/2015, the applicants, If­eanyi Stanley Okoye, Lord Aondofa Ga-Lim and Samuel Okoye prayed the court for a declaration that: “The acts of the respondents on the 3rd and 5th of February, 2015 which resulted in serious bodily injury, torture, intimidation and detention of the applicants amounts to infraction of their fundamental right guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 and under the Africa Charter on Human and Peoples Right.

Through the granted reliefs sought by the applicants, the management of Madonna University later released the wounded students from the hospi­tal though there are other pending matters in the suit. The case was adjourned till October 29, 2015.

 I hope the court will not delay justice for the kids as delay is denial. This madonna university  has a record of brutal and mysterious deaths associated with it unlike other private schools in its category. May God help the students and parents who take their wards there.