Competent sources inside the University of Cross River State, UNICROSS, have confided in www.calitown.com that the Cross River State Government, working with authorities of the institution and on the ground security reports, may have completed plans to move the university’s campus in Obubra LGA to her Ogoja campus.
This decision appears to have been reached after scores of staff and students at the Obubra campus, had their personal belongings massively looted and residential places outside the institution burnt as the intractable communal crisis between two communities hosting the institution, took another turn for the worst, this past Sunday.
On when the movement of the campus will take place, our source said, “…it will not be long from now because we cannot suspend normal school activities because two communities are hell bent on fighting.”
“There is an intractable communal conflict going on there since this past Sunday and several staff and students, clearly and largely unconnected to the crisis, had their houses and properties burnt to ashes. You cannot expect the state government and authorities of UNICROSS to behave as if nothing is happening, leave the Obubra campus functional, while innocent students and staff lives are in danger; there must be adequate response to this senselessness by both communities and if the movement of this campus is that adequate response, so be it”, one source who has elected to remain anonymous, said.
On whether this move is temporary or permanent one, our source maintained he is not in a position to offer an adequate response, but clearly offered that, “unless both communities show lasting commitment to peace, the Obubra campus may be gone. This particular conflict has so far affected enrolment in courses at the campus, should we continue to patronise host communities that are unsafe for our staff and students?”
While sources in the warring Ofatura and Ovonom communities were unable to say if any staff or student of the institution lost his or her life in the ongoing conflict, we gather that several persons hurriedly ran away from the communities after Sunday’s mayhem was unleashed and all parts of the institution remain like a ghost town.
Contacted for comments, Austin Angba, a professor and vice-chancellor of Unicross, said he was in a meeting and will contact us for his comments. He was yet to reach us at press time.
Meanwhile, there is noticeable security presence along long stretches of the Calabar/Ikom highway passing through the communities to forestall attacks on vehicular and human traffic on the road.
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