Malik Yahya/
A former National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Abdul Mahmud, has called for the prosecution of the Vice Chancellor of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Prof. Muhammad Abdullazeez, over the death of six students when a pedestrian bridge collapsed in the school late Monday night.
The metallic bridge, popularly called Wase Bridge, serves as link between the students’ reading area and their hostels.
The students, who had gone to study, were reportedly returning to their hostel around 11.45pm after a heavy rain when the tragic incident occurred.
Abdullazeez had given the casualty figure as four while addressing a press conference on the incident in Bauchi on Tuesday, but added that rescuers were still searching for more victims that were missing.
He also disclosed that seven others were injured at various degrees.
But information posted online today by some students of the institution suggested that the casualty figure might have risen to six.
Mahmud in a post on his Facebook wall, questioned the rationale for building a footbridge with “wrought iron and metal that are susceptible to rust and the elements”.
He further noted that it was “even more annoying that such contraption, likely fabricated by a roadside welder, should have been erected in the university in the first place”.
Mahmud then added: “Prof Abdulazeez , who I know personally, should be tried for manslaughter.”
