National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has declared that no student was killed in the recent crisis at the Federal Polytechnic in Auchi, Edo State.
The denial followed the former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi’s claims that some students were killed during the violence.
NAPS accused Obi of distorting facts about the recent Student Union Government (SUG) election crisis at the institution.
Obi had, via X, decried the growing culture of lawlessness in Nigeria, linking the chaos in the students’ election to the broader decay in public conduct and leadership behaviour.
He claimed that two students lost their lives as security forces shot indiscriminately at them for no fault of theirs.
But at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, NAPS president, Comrade Eshiofune Paul Oghayan, said Obi misled Nigerians with inflammatory utterances without verifying the information in line with his mantra of “go and verify”.
Oghayan said, “We address you today, not merely as student leaders, but as custodians of conscience, a voice sharpened by duty, and a pen guided by justice. In a world where the vile antics of propaganda have become weapons in the hands of desperate politicians, it is our duty to speak boldly, clearly, and unapologetically.
“On behalf of the over 28.1 million Nigerian polytechnic students, I want to state that an Independent Electoral Observation Team was deployed to Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State to monitor the 2025/2026 SUG elections and from the overwhelming evidence made available to us including videos, audio recordings, photographs, observer reports, medical confirmations, and multiple stakeholder accounts, no life was lost during the unfortunate incident.
“It is rather unfortunate that Mr. Peter Obi chose to be a merchant of falsehood with the intent of bringing the school management to disrepute when he could have easily verified what happened to avert the ridicule and public embarrassment his unguarded utterances caused.
“Let the truth echo across every town and campus in Nigeria: No student died. A few students sustained minor injuries from tear gas exposure, but no hospitalisation was recorded. In fact, even the use of tear gas was to disperse those who were hired to sabotage the elections and not to target law-abiding students as Peter Obi claimed,” Oghayan stated.
He, therefore, challenged Obi and his sympathisers to present the names, faces, and families of the alleged victims.
The NAPS leader said, “If none can be found, then it is a deliberate fabrication weaponised for political clout. Mr. Peter Obi’s failure to verify, a man who constantly urges Nigerians to verify, is not just hypocrisy. It is a philosophical betrayal. It is the commodification of grief, the manipulation of emotion, and the exploitation of students to attack the government of the day.”
NAPS demanded a retraction and public apology from Obi for presenting to the public wrong statistics and using silence to cover up the errors without taking responsibility for the gaffes.
“We, therefore, demand a public apology from Mr. Peter Obi to the entire Nigerian student community and specifically to Auchi Polytechnic, published on the front page of at least four national dailies within 72 hours. Failure to do so will be met with massive peaceful student protests and picketing of his business and political offices across the nation,” he added.
The union thanked the polytechnic rector, Dr. Salisu Shehu Umar, for “always living up to his responsibility” and urged him to “set up a committee that will be saddled with the responsibility of unravelling the cause of the crisis to forestall future occurrences.”
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