The Rivers Police Command said on Tuesday that it had commenced investigation on the death of a student of the University of Port Harcourt during Monday’s students’ protest.
Mobalaji Adesanya, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, who disclosed this to newsmen after inspecting the scene of the protest at the university, said the police did not kill any student, neither did it use fire arms on the students during the protest.
“On the issue of fatality, for now, last night, there was a case of a body that was recovered but very far away from this area.
“The corpse is currently at the mortuary ready for autopsy. The police did not use fire arms on the students and we did not shoot any student,” he said.
Adesanya said policemen sent to the protest scene were given specific directives and did not enter the campus until 10.00p.m. at the invitation of the vice chancellor.
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ndowa Lale, has however expressed regret at the death of the student.
“On behalf of the Council, Senate and entire university community, we regret the loss of life and we sympathise with the family. We regret what has happened and for the injured too,” he said.
Lale said the protesting students damaged property of the institution and looted some school and staff belongings.
“In the circumstance we found ourselves, we had to shut down the school to maintain a certain degree of peace on campus.
“We will continue to assess the situation and when we think that we have sufficient peace on campus, we will reopen the school,” he said.
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