Six students have been suspended from the Federal University Dutsin-Ma in Katsina State following the suspected murder of Abubakar Nasir-Barda, a 200-level student there.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the institution’s spokesperson, Habib Aminu-Umar, confirmed the decision in a statement on Sunday. Earlier, the state police command had announced the arrest of six university students in connection with Nasir-Barda’s death.
“The management of the university, on behalf of its Senate, staff, and students, is deeply saddened, concerned, and highly regrets the unfortunate incident involving some of its students,” the university’s statement reading of the suspects’ suspension said.
“It resulted in the terrible fight over a female student that resulted in the sudden death of a 200-level Computer Science and Information Technology student.
Since the sad tragedy, the university administration has been working hard to guarantee that everyone receives justice. After learning of the occurrence, management moved quickly to form an interim ad hoc committee to investigate the matter and keep management informed of developments.
Aminu-Umar claims that a preliminary report provided to management by the committee on September 30, 2023, indicated that the incident took place off the university’s campus.
However, as soon as the university’s security learned of the situation, they mobilized to the location and intervened promptly, stopping further fighting between the students and apprehending a few of them.
According to him, the interim report of the ad hoc committee had also advised the university administration to invoke Section 5.5(a) of the University Academic Policy by suspending all six of the involved students while waiting for the results of the police investigation, “which the management has approved by suspending all six of the involved students indefinitely.”