The truth about the Fire incident in Madonna University

The rate at which moral decadence is currently accelerating in our society remains a headache for every concerned individual. Ours is an era when institutions of higher learning where academic excellence and good moral standard are supposed to be inculcated in our youths are unfortunately doing directly the opposite.

For those who follow crime reports in the country, it is on record that almost all the cases of kidnapping, arm robbery, assassination, drug peddling/abuse etc are perpetuated by students from different campuses of Universities. It is now clear to Nigerians that unless something is done urgently, our education sector, particularly our university system, and indeed our entire country, may be heading for doom.

Consequently, the cry of Nigerian parents who saw the impending destruction of their children dragged Fr. Prof. Edeh into establishment of schools. Built on the principle of rescue mission, all Fr. Edeh’s institutions are bent on eradicating the ills that bedevil our tertiary institution which include: Cultism, exam malpractice, riot/demonstrations, drug abuse, campus prostitution, excessive freedom, sales of grade for money and or sex etc.

However, this is one of the situations where the common adage which says you can take a horse to a source of water but you cannot force it to drink plays out so well. While many Nigerian youths are celebrating this rare privilege of bearing the worldwide respected certificate of the prestigious Madonna University and her sister institutions, a minority few of the students are still bent on secretly  engaging in   activities that are inimical to the philosophy of this great institutions.

A very clear case here is that of four (4) unscrupulous students in the Okija campus of Madonna University who quite aware that alcohol and other narcotics are not allowed in the institution still went ahead and sneaked them into the University premises at night.

 Caught between the inordinate desire to perpetuate evil, and conscious of the moral consequences of involving in such an act in Madonna, they resorted in locking themselves up in a room where they smoked Indian hemp and drank to stupor. Unfortunately, some of their appliances sparked fire and set the whole room ablaze.

The fire outbreak was noticed immediately but the door was firmly bolted from inside thereby making the room inaccessible until the door was shattered with a heavy object. This ugly situation sad enough affected appallingly the four students that concealed themselves in said room.

What must be Noted by All:

1.      That when the fire was eventually checked, many empty bottles of highly alcoholic drinks were discovered under the beds in that room

2.      Apart from the above, parcels of left over Indian hemp were also recovered from the same room 

3.      That the rescue attempt was delayed because the room was locked from inside.

4.      That the students in question were quite conscious of the gravity of  what they were doing and that informed their decision to lock themselves up .

The University therefore ceases this medium to disabuse the minds of the general public from the false propaganda that the said students were set ablaze by their fellow students. This baseless and unfounded allegation is nothing but a well calculated attempt by some mischievous individuals with the aim of bringing the good name of the institution to disrepute. We however accept it as part of the prices the institution must pay for swimming against the current; never the less, we are not and will never be discouraged in our resolve to sanitize education in Nigeria and beyond. 

Cull from the Madonna University website
From the desk of the public relation officer

Madonna University