![](\"http:\/\/arewa.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2019-UTME-Police-warn-students-over-malpractice.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe three communities are in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo, which is home to several tertiary institutions.<\/p>\n
The police are said to have turned the hostels into goldmines, allegedly extorting money from `captured\u2019 students and owners of students\u2019 hostels after each raid.<\/p>\n
The development is said to have been affecting businesses adversely in the communities, with many students seeking abode elsewhere to avoid being arrested by the rampaging police operatives, \u201cwho always come in mufti attires\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
NAN learnt that students of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede are planning to embark on a peaceful demonstration to get government to rein in on the police authorities in Nekede communities.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview with NAN at Nekede on Sunday, a cross-section of the students said that policemen had made life unbearable for students residing in hostels in the town.<\/p>\n
A final year student in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Mr Nkem Ubani, lamented \u201cincessant harassment of students in the communities.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He said that the situation had become increasingly unbearable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are worried over incessant police arrests at our various hostels without reason. Each time the policemen arrest students, they take money from them and set them free.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police authorities should look into the activities of their men in Nekede to prevent an imminent breakdown of law and order because it has reached crisis point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are extorting students, hurting them and ruining businesses of innocent people making their living in the communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to mention the name of my hostel. I live in Umuoma and I have been a victim of police arrest severally. Each time they arrested me, they demanded money for me to secure my release.<\/p>\n
\u201cNekede is not the only community having students\u2019 hostels in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy has the police descended on this community over the years? Are they saying that every student in Nekede is a criminal?<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many of such criminals have they tried over the years and for what offences? Let them make their findings public.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Ubani affirmed that students in the communities were planning to stage a protest to the office of the rector of the polytechnic and to the Police Divisional Headquarters at Ihiagwa, to voice their frustrations.<\/p>\n
Another student, Mr Kelvin Osondu, lamented also that policemen in the Ihiagwa division had turned students into their `ATM` with allegations each time that the students were suspected criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes we have some bad boys around but our problem is that each time the police want to arrest anyone, they will use the opportunity to raid the area and arrest innocent students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy I get worried is that for all the arrests they make, they have never prosecuted any student because most of the arrests are unjust and illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we are mobilizing for a peaceful demonstration,\u2019\u2019 he stated.<\/p>\n
A caretaker at one of the hostels in Umuerim community, Mrs Blessing Iweajunwa, confirmed the incessant arrests of students in Nekede communities.<\/p>\n
She, however, told the police not to victimize innocent students in their bid to arrest suspected criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAm the lawyer, managing Fairland Hostel in Umuerim community. Since I took over management of the hostel, policemen have been coming to make unwarranted arrests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the police authorities should caution their men,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the development, the Chief Security of Nekede Polytechnic, Mr Kunle Ade, told NAN that the rector and other management staff had earlier met with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that authorities of the institution would be on the alert on the planned protest of the students over extortions by the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cBbut the issue is that we have a lot of bad boys, who claim to be students but they are not.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember that when police want to arrest such people they will raid the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the good thing now is that we have a new DPO who does not detain or collect money from any student proven to be innocent after arrest,\u201d Ade said.<\/p>\n
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP. Orlando Ikeoku, told NAN that students were entitle to peaceful demonstrations.<\/p>\n
He, however, described the allegations of extortion and incessant harassment by policemen in Nekede communities as baseless.<\/p>\n
Ikeoku conceded, however, that innocent people could be arrested during police raids, explaining that \u201cwhen such people are identified they will be released unconditionally while offenders will be prosecuted\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
The spokesman said that the new Commissioner of Police in Imo, Mr Rabiu Ladodo, would never shade erring officers.<\/p>\n
He advised students to report cases of extortions, harassments and unlawful arrests to the police authorities in the state.\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A relentless police crackdown on students residing in hostels at Umuoma, Umuerim and Umuokomochi communities, near Owerri, is forcing students to flee their hostels, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. The three communities are in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo, which is home to several tertiary institutions. The police are said to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2828,3],"tags":[5727],"class_list":["post-118784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-student"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/105455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}