Information reaching 247ureports.com from eyewitness sources at the Federal Polytechnic at Mubi, Adamawa State where gunmen shot students at their hostel on the afternoon of October 1, 2012 – indicates that the operation by the gunmen lasted for thirteen [13] hours from 2pm to 3am the next day without the intervention of the men of the Joint Task Force [JTF].
As gathered, the students of the Federal Polytechnic were reported to have had quarrels resulting from a student government election that did not seat well with a faction of the student body. The quarrels did not rise to the level of violence till the afternoon of Monday October 1, 2012 when some youths believed to be Muslims and acted as students of the institution began searching each room of every hostel for students who they claimed had tipped the security agents of their activities and of their weapons depot.
It is recalled that on September 25, 2012, the men of JTF raided the camp of Boko Haram arresting 156 suspects, killing one suspect while recovering a cache of deadly weapons.
Our source indicates that the gunmen came to the hostel area simply to avenge the supposed arrest of their members. The gunmen were said to be questioning their would-be victims before shooting them at pointblank range – to the forehead. “They will ask whether you are Muslim or Christian”, said the source who continued that “if you answer Muslim, they will ask you to recite the Kalmar Shahada”, failure to recite the Kalmar Shahada results to a bullet to the forehead. They also asked their world-be victims of their tribe before shooting them.
However, the whereabouts of the JTF during the 13 hours of operation by the gunmen remains an unanswered question. Prior to the attack on Monday October 1, 2012, the community of Mubi was placed under full curfew. The entire local government area was placed under a blanketing curfew. Roadblocks / checkpoints were mounted intermittently to checkmate infiltration of would-be terrorists. The men of JTF were also staged to rove around the community frequently – enough to detect ongoing or unfolding terrorist activities.
While the Muslim gunmen operated for an estimated time span of 13 hours, shooting and killing selectively students of their choice, the men of the JTF strikingly remained out of sight – until after the end of the operation by the gunmen. It then begs the question, how did the gunmen beat the security checkpoints and the curfew? How did the gunmen regain their seized weapons to stage a 13 hour operation without interference from JTF?
Meanwhile, new information indicates that two Churches were burnt in the process. The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Dr. Stanley Stephen, told our correspondent that the gunmen opened fire on the students, set ablaze a church and other buildings.
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