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Ombaci college closed over strike
One of the school buildings whose window panes were destroyed during the strike. PHOTO/ FELIX WAROM OKELLO
What you need to know:
- The riot was sparked by the arrest of six students by police investigating the death of a student.
Authorities yesterday closed St Joseph’s College Ombaci and unceremoniously sent home about 1,000 students following a destructive strike on Saturday night.
The institution was shut due to fear of further violence since the students “still have anger,” according to Resident City Commissioner Alice Akello, who doubles as the head of security in the city.
“So, we have decided that everyone be sent home indefinitely,” she said, pointing out that re-absorption of the students will depend on “thorough scrutiny”.
Multiple sources told this publication that the riot was sparked by the arrest of six students by police investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a Senior Four student on Friday.
The deceased, Adnan Aziz, died while under medical investigation at Radiology in Arua City where colleague students took him upon arrival at Ombaci from a friendly football match in Koboko.
There are differing accounts of how Aziz, who was buried in Yumbe District on Saturday, met his death.
According to witness accounts, the deceased and some colleagues sneaked from the football match grounds in Koboko to buy alcohol.
They reportedly engaged in a fight with other patrons, who caught Aziz and hacked him with machetes as they chased the fleeing students.
He managed to limp to the sports venue where friends assisted to get him onto the school bus, without knowledge of the teacher on duty, and concealed the information until they smuggled him to Radiology for medical care.
It was too late, said Mr Ronald Debo, the chief executive officer of Rhema Medical Group, which owns Radiology.
“The patient arrived unconscious. He had over bled. Wherever the injuries occurred, it was clear they delayed to get medical attention. As the ambulance that the nurse on-duty called to transfer the patient to Rhema Hospital arrived, he began gasping and suffered a cardiac arrest,” Mr Debo said by telephone.
Mr Charles Ondoga, the head teacher of St Joseph’s College Ombaci, said the autopsy showed that three of Aziz’s ribs were broken and the liver and lungs damaged.
As Aziz’s condition deteriorated, some of his friends first claimed that he had been injured by another student before changing to a narrative that he tripped and fell inside the bus to finally claiming that he hit himself against the gate as the bus entered the school compound.
When he passed on, police picked up some of his associates for questioning, sparking a riot in the early hours of Saturday night during which window panes and doors of classrooms, administration block and some staff quarters were smashed.
Police arrived to a chaotic scene, and had to call army back-up to restore order in the darkness.
“Last evening, the students caused destruction to structures and we trace this occurrence to Friday where our students went for friendly matches,” head teacher Ondoga said.
“When we finished the matches, our students came back straight to school. As students were disembarking, a voice from one of the students said there ‘was an emergency; that a student was injured by a student’,” he added.
The injured student was Aziz who, upon close physical examination, bore deep cuts on the left arm and had a bloodied body.
“We did not accept that claim by the students,” Mr Ondoga said.
The West Nile regional police spokesperson, Ms Josephine Angucia, said the damage by students to school property, which has been condemned by alumni, parents, board members and administrators, is “significant.”
ABOUT SCHOOL
St Joseph’s College Ombaci, a former premier institution in the country, has posted remarkable improvement after a decade of decline, with the upgrade in part supported by alumni who were due to converge at the school for a reunion and celebration of St Joseph’s Day on March 19.
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