Controversy Rages Over “UB Student Killed” In Buea Prison CameroonPostline -- News of the ‘death’ of a University of Buea, UB, student in detention, allegedly tortured, killed and secretly buried at the Buea Central Prison, has raised controversy, days to the verdict of an ongoing trial of some 40 UB students. The information has left the public split especially as UB Vice Chancellor, Dr. Nalova Lyonga, has signed a communiqué, debunking the allegation. The information had, nonetheless, hit several towns, especially Limbe, where some radio stations had announced the student’s alleged death without verification. The allegation filtered to the public sphere a few days to Thursday, July 18, when the Buea Magistrate Court delivers the verdict of the case that the State of Cameroon brought before the court against some students who were accused of having taken the Vice Chancellor hostage and destroyed property of the University during recent strike actions. In a memorandum reportedly scribbled and signed in the prison and dated July 8, 2013, some 22 students at the Buea Central Prison alleged, among other things, that one Lawrence Ngu had been tortured to death and secretly buried. In the memo addressed to office of the United Nations and copied to international human rights organisations, the Presidency of the Republic, Diplomatic Missions and Cameroon Students’ Rights Association, ADDEC, among others, the detained students also claim that the whereabouts of 16 other students arrested earlier remain unknown. “Today, we the student leaders of the University of Buea have been arrested and jailed unlawfully by the State Counsel, Justice Chibili, and her colleague Justice Beatrice Ntuba for no good reason. In the early hours of Sunday the 7th of July 2013, one of our friends with whom we were detained died at the Buea Central Prison because of torments and torture. Mr. Ngu Lawrence Lang was severely tortured and wounded before he died and his corpse has been stolen and buried under ground without the knowledge of his parents or students of the University of Buea,” the emotionally charged memo reads in part. The memo reads further: “Until now they are trying to keep the death of Ngu Lawrence a secret but we cannot see how we can hide the sudden death of our friend, school mate and brother. “We do not even know the whereabouts of sixteen of our friends who were arrested earlier, whether they have been killed and dumped elsewhere”. ADDEC picked up the issue and amplified it, urging the University of Buea and Buea Central Prison authorities to explain the death of the student. ADDEC also dispatched two of its members; Thierry Batoum and Alex Nanfack Noumeyi to Buea “to investigate the death of the UB student”. But, on July 15, UB Vice Chancellor issued a communiqué refuting the detained students’ claim as “false rumour”. In the communiqué, the VC states: “The Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea wishes to inform the UB Community and the general public that the information being circulated by Mr. Batoum Thierry and Mr. Nanfack Noumeyi Alex said to be officials of the Cameroon Students’ Rights Association (ADDEC) about the death of a University of Buea student at the Buea prison is totally false. According to their information, a student named Ngu Lawrence died at Buea prison on 7th July 2013. “The Vice Chancellor would like the public to know that there is no student registered in the University of Buea by name Ngu Lawrence and there is no information from the Buea Central Prison or the Judicial Department that any student of UB has died”. The VC condemns what she terms “the attitude of ADDEC and all other persons of bad faith who are bent on destroying the good image of UB”. However, information published online by the ADDEC team that left Yaounde to investigate the alleged death, does not lend credence to the rumour. ADDEC quotes the Vice Chancellor as having said that she is unaware of any such death and that alleged student should have had parents such that if the death was true, they would have raised the issue. ADDEC also indicates that the Syndicate of Higher Education Teachers, SYNES, was also unaware of such a death. SYNES officials are reported to have expressed surprise and are also quoted to have said that the number of students who were arrested and detained at the Buea Central Prison is intact. Besides these, The Post’s independent investigations proved that the allegation remains what the detained students have circulated through their memo. The Post contacted lawyers defending the students in the trial and all of them said they were ignorant of the death of any UB student in detention. Meantime, no relation of the said Lawrence Ngu has shown up to make a claim, neither does any other person seem to know the person who is claimed to have died. By press time, ADDEC was also alleging that Alex Nanfack Noumeyi, one of those who came to Buea to investigate “Lawrence Ngu’s death”, had been picked on UB campus and is being held in custody. Besides ADDEC, the office of UBSU, which published the news of the “death of Lawrence Ngu”, has continued to flood the Internet with other equally serious allegations that can hardly be verified.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 22:37:20 +0000
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