Stories by Obasola Olatunde
The calm of the early morning in Rumuchi/Rumuohia, a quiet community in Emuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State, was shattered on Tuesday when gunmen believed to be cultists invaded a students’ lodge and abducted five undergraduates of the Rivers State University.
For many students living around the university’s satellite campus, the attack felt like the nightmare they had been warning about for months.
Just last week, scores of students marched in protest, pleading with the school management to relocate them to the Port Harcourt main campus after enduring repeated robberies, harassment, and violent intrusions. Their fears were dismissed as “pockets of incidents” by the university authorities. On Monday barely 24 hours before the latest assault the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Zeb Obipi, publicly insisted that the Emuoha campus would not be shut down.
But in the early hours of Tuesday, reality struck again.
One of the students, a young woman who escaped by inches, recounted the horror with trembling hands. At around 2am, she heard what sounded like fireworks until screams and frantic footsteps confirmed the worst.
Before she could process what was happening, the gunmen shot the security dog at the gate, breaking into the compound with reckless confidence. She stepped out to flee, only to see a masked gunman raise his rifle in her direction.
“He shot at me. I don’t even know how many bullets,” she said, voice cracking. “I didn’t look back. I just ran. Someone else came out from the bush and chased after me. I was running for my life.”
Her escape ended at the gate of a neighbour who opened just in time. Behind her, the gunmen rounded up the students still inside the lodge and dragged them into the darkness.
“We didn’t sleep. Nobody could,” she said. “Some of our friends about four or five were taken. We don’t even know where they are now.”
Spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe Koko, confirmed the abduction and described the attackers as cultists. She said the Commissioner of Police had already led tactical units to the community in a bid to track down the kidnappers and rescue the victims.
“They stormed an isolated area, shot sporadically, and abducted the students to an unknown destination,” Iringe Koko said, assuring that efforts were ongoing to secure their freedom.
Residents say the incident is not isolated. The area has increasingly become a target for criminal gangs who see off-campus lodges as vulnerable. The last attack happened just days ago.
For parents, the fear is suffocating. Many rushed to the area after hearing the news, some weeping, some calling their children nonstop, some begging the authorities to “please bring our children home.”
The abduction has intensified criticism of the university’s insistence on keeping the Emuoha campus open despite students’ public cries for help.
Prof. Zeb Obipi had announced a town hall meeting with chiefs, community stakeholders, and security agencies—promising that safety measures were underway. But for students, those promises now ring hollow.
“This shouldn’t have happened after we warned them,” a student leader said. “We are not safe here. We have said it again and again.
As police comb through bushes and surrounding villages, students remain indoors, afraid to move. The sound of gunfire still rings in the head of the escapee who spoke to journalists.
“I’m grateful to be alive,” she said. “But I’m not okay. Nobody is okay.”
The fate of the abducted students remained unknown at press time.