A day after two students of the University of Jos were allegedly stabbed by youths along the Jos-Bauchi highway, fellow students took to the streets to protest the stabbing of their colleagues.
The protesting students barricaded the highways leading to Bauchi, causing traffic along the road, chanting anti-government slogans and preventing motorists from passing through.
Eyewitnesses said the students are protesting for an end to the attacks on innocent students in Jos. They also want enough security forces deployed to protect students between hostels and the campuses.
Spokesperson of the Special Task Force stationed in Jos, Captain Markus Mdahyelya, confirmed that security personnel have been deployed to the area.
The security forces in Jos are reportedly apprehensive about approaching the protesting the youths/students because the protest appears to have degenerated into a riot, with some injuries already recorded.
Jos was the site of last Sunday’s callous assault on innocent worshippers at the local St. Finbar’s Church, where suspected Islamic extremists approached the premises of the church with a vehicle rigged with explosives and detonated same, leading to the immediate death of 3 people and several people suffering various degrees of injuries.
The death toll has soared to 19 since the incident, in part due to shoddy security operations by personnel station in Jos and reprisal attacks from aggrieved residents.