Aftermath of protest: 9 Nasarawa varsity students die in auto crash •NANS declares Nasarawa gov persona non grata

NINE students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, have been confirmed dead in a road accident at Mararaba in Karu Local Government Area of the state, as a result of apprehension created by soldiers during their protest on Monday.
The National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Yinka Gbadebo, who disclosed this, on Wednesday, in Lafia, the state capital, while leading a peaceful protest to the Government House over the unjust killing of two students of the institution, however, warned Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to use his office to arrest the trigger happy soldiers and bring them to book, failure of which the NANS would make the state ungovernable for him.
Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered that the driver, who was said to be on a high speed, had a head on collision with another vehicle at Mararaba in which nine students of the institution lost their lives on the spot. The students were said to be on transit to their respective homes as a result of anxiety created by soldiers who invaded the school environment during the peaceful demonstration. The school authorities had since shut down the institution.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army, on Wednesday, declared that its soldiers were not responsible for the killing of four students of Nasarawa State University on Monday.
The Director of Army Public Relation, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, who made the clarification said that on Monday, students of Nasarawa State University came out en-masse and barricaded the Keffi-Akwanga Expressway which was part of the 177 Guards Battalion patrol routes.
According to him, the road was blocked with logs of woods and burning tyres which hampered vehicular movement, leaving travellers stranded for hours and numerous vehicles damaged by the violent crowd.
The Army spokesman also said that reports available to them showed that the irate crowd were looting travellers belongings and throwing stones, bottles and metal objects at the security operatives at the scene of the incidents, adding that the protest was eventually hijacked by some hoodlums and cult members who were students of the university.
FOLLOWING the recent killing of students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has declared the state governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura, a persona non grata.
Addressing newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Wednesday, president of NANS, Mr Yinka Gbadebo, who decried the killing, called on the Federal Government to set up a committee to investigate the matter and ensure that erring soldiers were disciplined appropriately.
NANS expressed disappointment over the murder of the students in what it described as “mere peaceful protest” and called on Nigerian students to “commence a process of civil disobedience against Al-Makura in any public function across the country, until those behind the incident were apprehended and disciplined.”
The NANS leader said all students in the country had been ordered “to suspend cooperation with government at all levels, pending the time the issue is resolved,” adding that “anywhere we see Al-Makura, we are going to embarrass him.”
He said NANS was at a loss with the killing, wondering “who ordered the deployment of soldiers to the scene of a peaceful protest, President Goodluck Jonathan or Al-Makura? Were the students on a war or insurgence to warrant the deployment of soldiers?”
TRIBUNE