Auchi Poly student shot dead by vigilante group during graduation party

Tragedy struck after a female outgoing student of Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, Uloko Laurenta Apaume, was allegedly shot dead by a member of a community vigilante group during a graduation party.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that Uloko, a banking and finance graduating student, was accidentally shot by the vigilante member who was at the scene to provide security for the celebrating students.

It was gathered that the students, after writing their last paper on Thursday, had invited the vigilante members, as part of tradition, to help secure the place for a party organised to celebrate the successful completion of their Higher National Diploma (HND) programme.

An eyewitness narrated to Sunday Vanguard:

“While the celebration was going on, the vigilante member tried to fire his gun but failed. So he wanted to inspect the gun to know why it did not fire only for the gun to go off in the process.

The bullet hit the girl in the process and she died before help could come”.

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Johnson Kokumo,who confirmed the incident, said it was a celebration that went awry adding that it was not an intentional killing.

“The vigilante men, according to the report of the Divisional Police Officer on ground, had been invited by the students and it was in the night.

It was clearly a misadventure; it was not an intentional killing as there is no record of any sort that there had been malice between the late student or any student for that matter and the vigilante men.

So, the vigilance man had an accidental discharge so to say while the celebration was on,” he stated.