Police probe NANS factions’ violent clash in Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command said on Tuesday that it had launched a probe into a violent clash between two factions of the National Association of Nigerian Students in Abuja.

The two NANS factions, in a trending video on X, formerly Twitter, engaged in a bloody clash that left one severely injured in the FCT.

Both factions were led by the duo of Pedro Obi from Delta State University and Comrade Lucky Emonefe from College of Education Warri, Delta State.

The two factions had emerged from a controversial convention held last December.

The election, which was riddled with crisis, led to a bloodbath leaving many students injured and rushed to the National Hospital in Abuja.

Since this event, both factions declared themselves winners and were operating separately.

However, on Tuesday, in a video sighted by The PUNCH on X, a bus branded with Obi’s photo was seen to have been vandalised. Hoodlums armed with cutlasses were also seen hacking a man suspected to be Obi’s ally.

When contacted for a response, Obi accused Emonefe of being the mastermind of the deadly attack.

He also noted that security operatives were already involved in the matter and investigations had also commenced on the matter.

His words, “Yes, they came for me but with God’s protection I wasn’t there when they came. They came to my residence in Abuja to wreak havoc and they hacked one of my people and he is really and seriously injured. As we speak, he is in the hospital, he has lost a lot of blood and at the moment we can only pray to God for his recovery.

“But for those who did this, they are the only ones who can tell the reason for this attack and we will be happy if they can come out to tell us the reason for their act. These are thugs sent by Lucky and those who did this are not hidden, the video available showed their faces and I know that the security agencies know what to do.”

Emonefe in an interview insisted that all persons in the video were cultists and not NANS members.

He maintained that Nigerian students would never act in such a violent manner, saying the Obi faction were all cultists fomenting trouble everywhere they went.

“All the people in the video are not Nigerian students; Nigerian students will not get involved in such acts. We are decent, we don’t do such. The people in the video are a group of cultists led by one Pedro Obi. The NANS members are well behaved, enlightened and we are future leaders. We cannot be involved in such an act. Pedro Chibuzor Obi is parading himself to be NANS, he is a member of a cult group they are the ones having the fracas and not NANS.

“I noticed them at a function I went to last week and they attacked me, he is always attacking and we cannot be violent like them. Nigerian students have chosen their president and we have been involved in all activities of NANS. He is impersonating my office. Obi is not a Nigerian student; he is the person involved in cult activity.”

Meanwhile, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, confirmed the development on Tuesday following an inquiry by our correspondent.

Reacting to the development, the FCT PPRO,  Adeh, said the police were ensuring that there was no disruption of peace being enjoyed by residents of the territory while promising to communicate further development.

Adeh noted, “The FCT police command is aware of the news making rounds about the recent attacks and counterattacks launched by the factional NANS leaders against one another in the Federal Capital Territory and therefore, wishes to state that the police command has commenced an investigation into the matter.

“The command is ensuring no disruption of peace being enjoyed by residents is allowed. Further development will be communicated.”