By David Kabiyesi
The University of Uyo private hostel at Useh Offot resident and the state Police Command are at daggers drawn after the former lambasted the latter for not living up to their daily responsibilities of protecting lives and property during the robbery incident that rocked the school recently, iwitnesslive.com can report.
The student maintained that the Police fail to pick up distress calls when men of the underworld invaded the 48-room posh property and carted away valuables like cash, phones, and laptops, among others after rapping two students returning from class.
iwitnesslive.com gathered from Uyo that eight hoodlums stormed the school premises, armed to the teeth, had tied up two security guards after pouring chemicals on the fence before combing from room to room in search of valuables.
Police allegedly arrived at the scene after the robbery operations which reportedly lasted for well over 30 minutes.
A female student who pleaded anonymity said: “I was so scared. I almost fainted. The experience was dehumanizing, more, when you are in your comfort zone. If this could happen here with all the security facilities, where then is safe? “
Another student, said: “The incident is better imagined than experienced. I ran into the toilet, they still came after me. As you can see, the door is pulled out. And it is so sad that the Police for reasons best known to them refused to come despite calls from the students and we were told that the community people also made frantic efforts by calling the Police, yet no help came until the robbers had left “
Reacting to the allegation, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Macdon Odiko fumed at the allegation, saying: “The Akwa Ibom State Police Command responds quickly to distress calls and has been greatly commended in that regard.
“If your source is saying the Police arrived late, then it depends on when the information was given to the Police and also if the team was already responding to a distress call, even at that, other teams and tactical teams were usually called in to respond and save lives and property.” he said