The Rector of Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic, Dr Justina Kotso, explaining a point to Governor Abdullahi Sule, during a visit to the Polytechnic after the recent student’s riot.
By Nsini Etim
The violent protest that rocked Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic in Lafia, Nasarawa State on the 11th of March, 2021 is not new to those familiar with the story but recent investigation by The Dune Newspaper has revealed untold parts of the story.
Before this investigation, the news in town was that the protest which led to the destruction of many facilities in the polytechnic was agitated by the alleged closure of the school’s registration portal and introduction of N10,000 late registration fee by the management of the institution.
Against what people thought were the cause of the protest, authorities of the polytechnic said the registration portal was not closed, and the rumour that students were surcharged N10,000 for late registration was a hoax.
Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr. Justina Kotso told The Dune that the school’s registration portal was still open until the protest.
‘The management did not increase any fees. And about 162 students paid their school fees through the portal the day the protest broke out prompting management to announce closure of academic activities indefinitely’, Kotso said.
Wreckage of the riot at the frontage of the Polytechnic.
Some staff in the polytechnic have claimed that there were underlying triggers which incited the riot other than the rumoured closure of the school registration portal and N10,000 surcharge for late registration as argued by those who want to cover up the germane cause of the riot in the quest to give the management a bad name.
One of the triggers of the riot identified by some staff of the institution was sabotage agitated by the disintegration of the polytechnic alumni association, the introduction of portal system which has ended the table payment system and its concomitant financial leakages.
Another trigger identified by our sources was lingering dissatisfaction over the emergence of Dr. Justina Kotso as Rector of the polytechnic.
ALUMNI CRISIS
The alumni association of the Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic held an election on December 12, 2020 where Comrade Ogbole Arenya was declared winner by the Jamilu Abubakar’s led caretaker committee.
Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Justina Kotso and management staff addressing students during the riot.
However, the outcome of the election did not go down well with his contender, Comrade Gambo Audu Kigbu, who alleged irregularities in the election and petitioned the Governing Council, the highest policy making body of the polytechnic for intervention.
On receipt of the Kigbu’s petition, the Governing Council constituted a committee to look into the petition and issued a stay-of-action to the caretaker committee not to inaugurate the supposed winner of the election, pending the outcome of the committee’s investigation.
The Dune learnt that the caretaker committee in deviance to the instructions of the Governing Council went ahead to inaugurate the new EXCOs of the Alumni at a hotel in Lafia metropolis after they were denied access to the polytechnic premises for the inauguration.
Expectedly, the polytechnic authorities stood by the decision of the Governing Council and refused to recognize the new EXCOs which led to disharmony between the two elephants.
One of the offices in the Polytechnic torched during the riot.
The decision of the management did not go down well with the caretaker committee of the alumni, however, the new EXCOs were eager to return to office by all means and started making inciting statement about management of the polytechnic.
The Dune learnt that every graduand of the Polytechnic usually pays a mandatory alumni fee of N2,000 to the association which has been on for over six years since the alumni association was established. This money according to our findings has amounted into millions of naira.
Our source, a top management staff of the polytechnic explained inciting social media posts and fake news that the management has closed the portal must have emanated from the embattled alumni EXCO.
Another building torched during the student’s riot.
The source who pleaded anonymity because he is not authorized to speak said on the matter narrated how the crisis in the alumni contributed to the students’ riot.
“Sometime around December last year, there was an election of the School’s alumni association. The election was unsuccessful because according to a petition filed by an aggrieved party, the election was marred by irregularities.
“There is a particular member who contested too, he also wrote a petition. And there is this group called Concerned Alumni Members, they wrote a petition as well through one of the chambers in town.
Car windscreen torched in the riot.
“The management of the institution set up a committee to investigate the issues that arose from the election but the alumni association wrote to the Council and they set up a committee. The committee found out that there were irregularities and that due process was not followed so the Council advised them to stay action on the inauguration.
“Unknown to the Council, the elected EXCOs along with the caretaker committee arranged to go ahead with the inauguration after the Council advised them to stay action.
“They came to the school to inaugurate the EXCOs but the management had information before that time so security was beef up and they were prevented from having access to the school premises. Because of that, they went to one hotel within the town and they held the inauguration there”.
The source further said, “we have been seeing the caretaker committee chairman posting some inciting things on his Facebook page against the management and against the Council.
“Members of the alumni association have been writing all sort of inciting things against the management and the Council. They petitioned the Secretary to the State Government. The Commandant of the Nigeria Security And Civil Defense Corps was also invited into the matter.
Tyres burnt on the highway by students during the riot.
“The Commandant investigated the matter and at the end, he said that the inauguration should be null and void pending the determination of the matter by the committee set up by the Governing Council of the institution. So as a responsible management, there was no way the institution will identify with any of the groups.
“The SSG also responded to the petition they wrote and he advised the management of the institution to dialogue on the issue.
“And they said because of all these, they will make sure that they bring disunity in the polytechnic and now students crisis emerged as a result of the fake news that the school closed the portal and increased school fees.”
Meanwhile, the caretaker committee chairman of the alumni, Jamilu Abubakar, has said the alumni had no hand in the riot.
Abubakar also claimed that there was no official document from the Governing Council stopping the inauguration of the new EXCOs, saying that only a competent court of law could issue an injunction halting the inauguration, that was why they proceeded with the inauguration of the new EXCOs.
SABOTAGE BY STAFF OVER NEW PAYPAL
Another issue that could have exacerbated the students’ protest was the introduction of the payment of school fees through the new portal system.
Burnt security post in the polytechnic. Pictured on the other side is Governor Abdullahi Sule and his entourage during a visit to the school.
Inside sources reveal that staff of the polytechnic had hitherto been fingered in looting the polytechnic treasury through the ‘outdated system’ of table payment where monies were collected by staff of the polytechnic from students as fees and fake receipts were issued in return.
This act necessitated the introduction of school fees payment through the new portal system, a decision the Management feels is a thorn on the flesh of staff of the polytechnic who had hitherto fed fat through the fraudulent process which made them sabotage the payment of fees through the new portal system and incited the students against management.
The Dune gathered that staff who were aversed to the new payment method had tried furiously to convince the students to oppose the payment method, flying a lot of unthinkable reasons.
CONTENTION FOR OFFICE OF THE RECTOR
The influence of the erstwhile contenders for the position of Rector cannot be accurately confirmed but inside sources disclosed that their input in the crisis cannot be ruled out completely.
Dr. Justina Kotso had contended with three other candidates to emerge as Rector of the Polytechnic.
In the appointment of the Rector by Visitor to the Polytechnic, The Dune gathered that due process was said to have been followed and that she emerged as Rector on merit.
Nevertheless, a source told our reporter that other contenders who had jostled for the position were unhappy with her emergence especially because of her gender.
“By their arithmetics, sparking up a riot at the Polytechnic would present the Rector as incompetent to the Visitor of the Polytechnic, Governor Abdullahi Sule. This, they feel would lead to her eventual removal, just like they had done to previous rectors in time past,” he alleged.
But, Governor Abdullahi Sule during his visit to the Polytechnic rather than act in that supposed line of thought, called on the Rector to sanction anyone responsible for the riot.
The Governor who was visibly furious at the incident, warned that his administration will not condone any act capable of taking the state backward, considering efforts by the government to turnaround the education sector for the better.
“It’s unfortunate that we are having this problem at a time we are supporting education. It has taken us some steps backward, but we are determined not to allow anybody to take us back. We will continue to do our best.
“We were all students at one point or the other, if we had destroyed all the institutions, which institutions will some of you attend? Whoever has done this does not mean well for the students, as well as Nasarawa State,” the governor added.
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Governor Sule described the actions of the students as unfortunate, especially at a time when his administration is working tirelessly to change the narrative regarding the educational backwardness of the state.
He further warned staff of the institution, who may have masterminded the destruction of the ICT centre and other facilities in the Polytechnic in their selfish bid to sustain the use of fake receipts and achieve their heinous intentions that his administration will not condone such acts.
As at the time of filing this report, the Governing Council and Management of the institution have set up committees to investigate the cause of the protest which metamorphosed into a full blown riot.
