Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A 100-level student of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) in Rumuolumeni, Rivers State, is fighting for his life after suspected cultists shot him on campus on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, throwing the institution into chaos and forcing the management to suspend all remaining activities of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) Week. The victim, identified only as Somina, was shot at the university’s Faculty of Education barely 48 hours after rival cult groups engaged in a bloody gun battle on the same campus. Friends and coursemates have been scrambling to raise N300,000 for his surgery, even as the university and police trade conflicting accounts of what really happened.
The shooting occurred on Wednesday, just two days after suspected members of the Vikings and Klu Klux Klan (KKK) cult groups clashed on campus on Monday, August 10, in what sources described as a supremacy battle. That earlier incident, which lasted about 20 minutes in broad daylight, sent students scampering for safety as gunshots rent the air. No casualties were recorded in Monday’s clash, but the violence escalated dramatically when a year-one student was shot on Wednesday. A source close to the victim told newsmen that Somina was rushed to a hospital with bullet pellets lodged in his body. The source added that the hospital demanded N300,000 before surgery could be performed, prompting his coursemates to launch an emergency fundraising campaign.
The university management, in a statement signed by the Registrar, Dr Chinonye Abraham Ajie, announced the immediate suspension of all remaining SUG Week activities and directed students to return to classes on Thursday, August 13, 2026. “Students are therefore advised to return to classes on Thursday, August 13th, 2026, for normal academic activities. Any student who fails to attend lectures will be held responsible for their actions,” the statement read. The management, however, did not explicitly confirm the shooting or disclose what prompted the suspension. As of the time of filing this report, neither the university nor the police had officially confirmed the shooting or provided details on the condition of the victim.
The incident has exposed a dangerous schism between the accounts of the police, the SUG leadership, and eyewitnesses. The Rivers State Police Command, through its spokesperson, ASP Blessing Agabe, confirmed that Monday’s incident was a clash between two cult groups and said the command was investigating. However, the SUG President, Comrade Alex Onu, dismissed reports of a cult clash, insisting that the only gunshot heard was fired by police into the air to disperse unknown persons who had entered the campus during the SUG Week celebration. Onu maintained that the individuals were not armed and left immediately after the warning shot. An eyewitness, however, contradicted this account, claiming that suspected cultists took over parts of the institution and exchanged gunfire for at least 20 minutes. The witness questioned the university’s security coordination, saying, “I am questioning the relationship between the school management and the security agencies, considering that the incident reportedly lasted for at least 20 minutes”.
Human rights activists have condemned the recurrent cult violence at the institution. Port Harcourt-based activist Charles Jaja said the clash showed that the university management had lost control of the campus. “Yesterday’s gunshot at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education is a sad reminder of what a university ought not to be and I think that the school management has lost control of its campus,” Jaja stated. Another activist, Prince Wiro, National Coordinator of the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, described the repeated cult clashes as embarrassing and warned that they would erode parents’ confidence in the university’s security architecture.
The shooting of Somina has heightened fears among students and renewed calls for urgent security reforms. Videos circulating online showed the injured student lying on a hospital bed while his coursemates carried him into the university campus. As the 100-level student battles for his life, the university’s decision to suspend SUG Week and return to normal academic activities appears more like a damage-control measure than a genuine solution to the cult violence that has turned the campus into a theatre of terror. The silence from the police and the university’s refusal to provide clear answers only deepens the distrust. For Somina and his family, the nightmare is far from over. For the students of IAUE, the question remains: when will the gunfire stop?
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