Suspected Cultists Kill Final Year UNIUYO Student at Viewing Centre in A’ Ibom

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Suspected cultists reportedly killed a final year student of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), Akwa Ibom State while watching the last legs of the UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday night.

THISDAY gathered that the heavily armed gunmen numbering about three, stormed a popular viewing centre, Kaneworld Resort located at 17, Idak Okpo lane, Uyo where their target was watching the match and shot him dead.

The incident was said to have occurred few minutes to the end of the Champions League matches between some big European clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich.

An eyewitness, Effiong Akpan, said when the criminals entered the viewing centre, everybody was ordered to lie down, while the deceased struggled with his Infinix phone and was shot at close range.

Akpan, a Manchester United fan, said the deceased, Dominic Ubiat, a final year Microbiology student from Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area, was shot on his groin at close range.

Another witness said: “He ran with patches of blood from the viewing centre and was chased by the hoodlums to his house located at about 500 metres and died before help could reach him.”

It was gathered that youths of the area arrived a little too late to take him to the hospital where medics confirmed he died from excess loss of blood. His parents, Mr and Mrs Ubiat, who visited the scene of the incident yesterday, mourned that all the years of their son in the University was in vain and vowed to go the extra mile to avenge the death of their son.

“Look at the blood of my son,” Mr. Ubiat stated, declaring that “the blood of my son shall haunt those behind this dastardly act of cowardice.”

The deceased’s mother, accompanied by other family members, class and schoolmates, wondered why her son could be left to die after being shot.

“From every indication here, help did not come early enough, otherwise my son would have survived if he had been rushed to the hospital at the right time,” the mother complained.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Elkana Bala, confirmed the report saying the incident was “a pure robbery attack.”

He urged parents to be in the vanguard of instilling the essential values in their children and wards, noting that “a situation whereby a student is seen at wrong places in the wee hours of the night left much to be desired.
“In this kind of situation, there is little the Police could do because anybody must work towards helping himself first”, he added.

The PPRO said no arrest has been made yet calling on members of the public to always shun danger-prone areas in the late hours of the night.