No Student Died From Police Gunfire, Cross River Command Insists After Hospital Riot

Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.

The Cross River State Police Command has strongly refuted viral social media claims that its officers opened fire on protesting university students in Calabar on Monday morning, insisting that only smoke guns and teargas were used to disperse a crowd that had turned violent and that no student was shot or killed during the confrontation. The denial came after a day of high tension in the state capital, where students of the University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) took to the streets to demand better care for their colleagues who survived a horrific weekend motor accident that claimed the lives of four students. The protest, which began peacefully, escalated into the destruction of hospital property, forcing security operatives to intervene. By Monday evening, the police and the state government were locked in a battle of narratives with student activists and online commentators who alleged that two students had been fatally shot by security forces.

The tragedy that sparked the protest occurred on Friday, May 1, 2026, along the Odukpani section of the Calabar-Itu federal highway. A vehicle conveying UNICROSS students returning from a trip to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, collided head-on with a truck. Four students died at the scene. Six others were rescued by a combined team of police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and rushed to hospitals in Calabar, including the General Hospital on Mary Slessor Road. However, according to the protesting students, their injured colleagues had not been receiving adequate food, water, or medical attention since their admission, and repeated appeals to hospital authorities and the state government had gone unheeded. By Monday morning, frustration boiled over.

Hundreds of students, many dressed in black, converged at the General Hospital. Witnesses said the crowd was initially orderly, chanting songs and carrying placards. But the mood darkened as no government official or hospital administrator came out to address them. Within hours, the protest turned destructive. Students damaged a hospital bus, broke windows, and destroyed equipment. A viral video captured them forcibly pulling down and smashing the hospital’s signpost. As the violence escalated, police mobile officers moved in to disperse the crowd. It was at this point that conflicting accounts emerged.

The Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eitokpah Sunday Akata, issued a statement on Monday afternoon categorically denying that any live bullets were fired. “None of the protesters was shot. Smoke guns were fired into the air to manage the increasingly violent protesters,” Akata told reporters. He explained that the police response was measured and strictly in line with crowd control protocols. He also disclosed that six injured students had been rescued from the accident scene and were receiving treatment, but he did not comment on the specific allegations of neglect.

However, student eyewitnesses maintained a different story. Some claimed that police officers fired live rounds after students refused to disperse, and that two students were hit and killed. Others alleged that the police used teargas canisters directly at the crowd, causing a stampede that led to injuries. As of press time, no photographs or videos of gunshot victims had been independently verified. The police command challenged anyone with evidence of police shooting to come forward, warning that spreading false information would attract legal consequences.

The state government, through the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk, also weighed in, dismissing what he called “misleading social media claims” that the injured students were neglected. In a detailed statement, Ayuk said the emergency response to the accident was prompt and organized. “Upon the victims’ arrival at General Hospital Calabar, available medical staff were mobilized, and efforts were made to contact additional healthcare professionals to enhance the response capacity. However, due to the severity of some injuries, the Federal Road Safety Corps made the professional choice to transfer critically injured victims to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), which is better equipped to handle such complex trauma cases,” he explained. Ayuk stressed that all fatalities from the accident occurred at the scene, and that no lives were lost due to delayed or insufficient medical care at any health facility. He condemned what he described as an attempt by some individuals to exploit the grief for personal gain or political mischief.

The police and army presence in Calabar remained heavy on Monday evening. Armed personnel from the 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army were seen guarding their barracks near the General Hospital, while mobile policemen patrolled the surrounding neighborhoods to prevent any further escalation. No arrests had been announced as of the time of this report, though police sources said they were reviewing CCTV footage to identify students who destroyed hospital property.

The weekend accident that triggered the protest has itself drawn attention to the dangers on the Calabar-Itu highway, a road notorious for reckless driving and poor lighting. The FRSC has repeatedly called for stricter enforcement of speed limits along that corridor. The four deceased students have been identified by the university authorities, but their names have not been publicly released pending family notification. The six injured students remain in hospital, with two said to be in critical condition at UCTH.

For the students of UNICROSS, Monday’s protest was not only about medical care. Many expressed a deeper frustration with what they perceive as systemic neglect by state authorities. “We are tired of losing our friends on the road and then being ignored when we cry for help,” a final-year student who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “The government only acts when we break things. That is not leadership.” The police, for their part, have promised to conduct an internal review of the protest response. But as night fell over Calabar, the truth about what happened at the General Hospital remained trapped between two irreconcilable stories, one told by those who wield the guns and the other by those who fear them.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called for an independent investigation into the alleged shooting, threatening a nationwide protest if the police cannot provide a transparent account. The Cross River State Government has not announced any additional measures to address the students’ grievances beyond the health commissioner’s statement. For the families of the accident victims and the surviving students, Monday was a day of double grief: first for the dead, and then for the trust that may never be restored.

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