Fedpoly Bauchi shut down over violent students protest
The Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, has ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of the institution following a violent student protest in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that angry students of the institution embarked on a violent protest at about 10 am after an alleged midnight robbery at the male hostel.

The management announced the closure in a statement issued by the Registrar, Alhaji Kasimu Salihu, and made available to newsmen in Bauchi on Tuesday.

It stated: “The Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi has received the disturbing news of some unscrupulous elements who invaded the male students’ hostel, taking away their belongings and injuring two students.

“Consequent upon this sad development, students came out of the Polytechnic Main Gate to express their justifiable frustration, calling on management to act.

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“While management acted immediately with all principal officers and management staff showing up to address the students and situation, it was established that hoodlums, who do not mean well for the students and institution, had taken over what was meant to be a peaceful protest.

“Against the background of this ugly situation, the management hereby orders the immediate closure of academic activities.”

The statement added that the students were given two hours to vacate the campus, effective immediately, until further notice.

Some of the students, who spoke on the condition of anonymity with reporters during the protest, said that the robbery occurred in the middle of the night.

They also said that the institution’s management had failed to provide adequate security.

One of the students, Ismail Abubakar, expressed frustration over the development.

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Abubakar said that it was disturbing that “students are not safe off campus and on campus.

“They collected more than 50 phones during the robbery and wounded a couple of students with dangerous weapons”.

The Student Union Government President, Haruna Umar, who also condemned the attack, stated that it had never occurred in the history of the Polytechnic.

Meanwhile, the Bauchi Police Command says it has apprehended and detained three suspected members of the gang responsible for the robbery.

The command’s Spokesman, CSP Ahmed Wakili, confirmed the development in a statement issued via its online platform.

According to Wakili, the command “received intelligence through the Chief Security Officer (CSO) serving with the institution.

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“The intelligence disclosed a security breach by unidentified hoodlums, who trespassed into the institution through the fenced wall and forcefully took the students’ phones.

“During the skirmishes, some of the students confronted the hoodlums, which resulted in various degrees of injuries to the students.

“On receipt of the report, teams of detectives attached to E’ Division, immediately despatched to the scene, conveyed the victims to the institution’s clinic for first aid,” the statement added.

It further disclosed that the command later dispatched a reinforcement team to the scene of the students’ protest to end the molestation of innocent people, breaking into and looting of shops and valuables.

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Wakili explained that the operatives applied minimal force to disperse the illegal crowd after they encountered initial resistance.

He stated that the situation had been successfully brought under control, adding that 36 male and 12 female persons were being detained for alleged involvement in the protest.

He also stated that the three robbery suspects admitted during interrogation “that they criminally conspired, invaded the students’ hostels, threatened and forcefully dispossessed the students of their valuables, including phones and laptops.

“They also confessed to having inflicted various degrees of injuries on some of the students, who attempted to challenge them.”

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday frowned at what it calls the act of prominent Igbo men begging President Bola Tinubu for the release of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, instead of demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

The pro-Biafra group said Mazi Kanu is not a criminal, nor did he commit any crime that warrants people to be begging for his release, describing such begging by prominent Igbo men as disgraceful and unacceptable to IPOB.

IPOB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, titled “Stop begging Tinubu, Demand for the Immediate and Unconditional Release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Now,” cited a recent instance of a prominent Igbo man begging Tinubu to release Mazi Kanu.

IPOB’s statement read, “The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, categorically rejects and condemns the shameful spectacle of Igbo figures, groveling before President Bola Tinubu with pleas and beggarly appeals for our leader’s ‘pardon’ or ‘release.”

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“Such cowardly submissions, as seen in one Idimogu’s recent public groveling, where he begged Tinubu to free Kanu as a political favor to boost APC’s 2027 fortunes and revive the South-East economy, reek of self-serving opportunism and betrayal.

“They insult the intelligence of the Biafran people, undermine the rule of law, and perpetuate the false narrative that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has committed any crime warranting mercy from a regime built on impunity.

“Let us be unequivocally clear: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not a criminal in need of pardon. He is a prisoner of conscience, unlawfully abducted from Kenya on June 27, 2021, in blatant violation of Kenyan sovereignty, Nigeria’s Extradition Act 2004, and international treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

“Both Kenyan and Nigerian courts have affirmed this criminal abduction: the Kenyan High Court ruled it illegal, and Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, in its subsisting judgment of October 13, 2022, discharged Mazi Nnamdi Kanu outright, declaring no Nigerian court has jurisdiction to try him due to the jurisdictional nullity caused by his rendition.

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“This appellate discharge, grounded in fundamental defects, stands as a final acquittal under Nigerian jurisprudence irrevocable unless explicitly stated “without prejudice,” which it was not (Suleman v. FRN, 2018; Mohammed v. State, 2017).

“The Supreme Court’s December 15, 2023, ruling, remitting the case for trial, is a per incuriam travesty, a nullity that cannot override the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

“Section 36(9) enshrines ironclad protection against double jeopardy: no person discharged by a court of competent jurisdiction shall be tried again for the same offense. The highest law in Nigeria is the Constitution, not the Supreme Court, and any judgment flouting constitutional safeguards is dead on arrival.

“Furthermore, the charges rely on repealed laws (Terrorism Prevention Act 2011/2013), extinguished under Section 6(3) of the Interpretation Act 2004, with no savings clause to revive them (A.G. Federation v. A.G. Abia State, 2002; Okeke v. State, 2019).

“The de novo trial before Justice Omotosho, commencing March 29, 2025, where Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was forced to plead not guilty anew, is an absolute nullity—void ab initio for lacking jurisdiction.

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“Begging Tinubu, therefore, reinforces dictatorship and autocracy, portraying Nigeria as a lawless fiefdom where executive whims trump judicial finality. It signals weakness to our oppressors, implying Kanu is guilty when the law has exonerated him.

“IPOB warns all well-meaning individuals, Igbo leaders, and the public: Cease this degrading pleading immediately. It does not bode well for the rule of law; it smacks of complicity in state-sponsored terrorism and judicial banditry.

“Henceforth, demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He has been discharged and acquitted; no court, not even the Supreme Court, can subvert this without offending the Constitution and inviting anarchy.

“We call on all Biafrans, freedom-loving Nigerians, and the international community to amplify this demand: Obey the law, respect the Constitution, and free Kanu now! Failure to do so exposes the Tinubu regime’s contempt for justice and accelerates the inevitable collapse of this contrived contraption.

“IPOB will not fold its arms while our leader is intimidated into an unjust trial. We urge mass mobilization, including protests, legal actions, and global advocacy, to enforce the Court of Appeal’s verdict. Those who continue begging will be seen as enablers of oppression; history will judge you harshly.”

The country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has released the former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, after he spent barely 24 hours in custody.

Daily Trust confirmed his release on Tuesday.

The former governor had honoured an invitation by the commission at about 11:16 am on Monday but was subsequently taken into custody.

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“He has been granted administrative bail. We’ve extracted what we need from him, and he will soon leave our headquarters after perfecting his bail conditions,” an EFCC officer told Daily Trust.

Meanwhile, the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, is yet to comment on Tambuwal’s release as of the time of filing this report.