I want justice: Father of brutalized Madonna University student cries out

Memories of the chilling incident involving the kidnap and torture of two students of the Madonna University, Apkugo Campus, Enugu State, by officials of the school, re-echoed at the headquarters of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Abuja, on Monday, when Engr. Samuel Okoye, father to of one of the victims, Stanley, narrated the gory incident to the Commission.
The Commission had summoned the Vice Chancellor of the university, Registrar and the Chief Security Of¬ficer of the school after reading a de¬tailed report of the incident published in Sunday Sun edition of August 9, 2015.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Fi¬delis Mbadugha, Engr Okoye told the NHRC how his son, Stanley Okoye, 23, a final year Civil Engineering student and Ga-Lim Aondofa Lord, escaped death by the whiskers after they were allegedly abducted from their rooms on February 3, 2015, in the dead of the night, in commando fashion, by the Chief Security Officer of the university, Okey Ogbonna and the Dean of Student Affairs, Rev. Fr. Isaac Nginga, a Catholic priest, in company with others and taken to a secluded area on the campus, where they were tortured, brutalized, dehu¬manized and left to die, but through divine intervention, they lived to tell the story.
At the end of his interrogation by the Commission’s team of investiga¬tors, Sunday Sun cornered him for a chat on the issue.
Sir, could you tell us why you are at the head¬quarters of the National Human Rights Commis¬sion today?
We are here in respect of the ugly incident at the Madonna University, involving my son, Stanley Okoye and his fellow student, Ga-Lim Aondofa Lord, which was widely reported in your newspaper. Before I proceed, I have to commend your newspaper for having the courage to report the incident. We are here because the Vice Chancellor of the University and some of the school officials were invited by the Com¬mission to be here today. But as you can see, they have refused to come. Nevertheless, the Commission has interrogated us and we have stated our own side of the story.
What did you tell the Commission?
We told them the truth, exactly the way it was reported in your newspa¬per. We told them what we saw and the attempt by the university authori¬ties to cover up. For us, it was a case of kidnapping and attempted ritual killing. See, it pains me that people are referring to the incident as torture. It is not torture but kidnapping and attempted ritual killing, that is ex¬actly what it was. They came to their hostels, knocked on their doors and abducted them from their rooms, put them in the boot of the cars and drove them out of the campus. This cannot be torture but simply kidnapping and attempted ritual killing. We told them our encounter and bitter experiences in the hands of the school authorities nothing but the truth.
Yes, I also told them that I want justice to be done in this matter. I told them I want compensation because Stanley still needs to undergo special surgery in Germany on the spine to repair a major damage inflicted on him while the torture lasted. Aondo¬fa suffered a dislocated jaw that re¬quired having his jaws held together with special dental wire to allow the injury heal.
What would you re¬gard as justice in this case, and what form of compensation do you seek?
You see it is disappointing that the Uni¬versity is trying to cover up the incident. There is no remorse of any form; the per¬petrators of this assault are going about with impunity, no soothing words from the Uni¬versity authority to parents of the victims. This, to me is not acceptable. It is naked wickedness. That is what it is. How could people who are supposed to be servants of God do this? The school has refused to release the medical records of my son to enable me to take him to Germany for fur¬ther treatment. Rather than do all these, they are busy celebrating mass in my name and placing curses on my family that it would not be well with us. It’s a shame and unfor¬tunate. They have to do all these and tender a public apology to be published in The Sun Newspaper.
Do you think you will get justice at the Commission?
We are very confident that justice will be done, that’s why we are here. We have no doubt about the ability of the Commission to do justice in this case. So far we are satis¬fied with the steps taken so far on the issue.