In what is fast becoming the norm, gunmen Friday stormed the Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria (FRCN) Training School, Lagos State, raping and robbing many of the female trainee journalists.
An eye witness in the school told The Eagle Online this would be the third time the armed men would be attacking the school, raping female students in the hotel.
An insider said: “The armed robbers are many.They attacked the school last week, last two weeks and now this week. They always rape the girls and dispossessed others, including male students and night workers of their valuables.”
The three attacks on the school have left many of the workers shocked, especially in the view of the fact that policemen were supposed to be manning the gate of the school.
The last attack, occurred at about 2am, with the gunmen significantly targetting the financial records offices. Three of the gunmen wore masks and focused on the new BOND FM station, which has a lot of new expensive transmitting devices.
“Many of them broke into our offices, remove burglary proof, raped girls who were on training and living in our hostel. They collected people’s money, phones and laptops. This is the third time this would be happening,” said a staff.
According to another insider, the school has males and females trainees drawn from across different radio stations in the country who are on specialise course of training. Aside from those, there are also private students, who are interested in broadcast journalism and enrolled.
The insider added: “The gunmen used to be many in number whenever they come to attack. The first time they came, they appeared to be searching for something as they ransacked all offices. This time, they came with about three or four men who were in masks. Those men are apparently the people who wanted something from the school or offices. When they came this time, they were the ones doing the frantic searching. They’re probably familiar faces. Whether they succeeded in getting what they wanted this time around is what we don’t know.”
Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, however said it was only a case of burglary that was reported.
“I just got to hear today that the place has been burgled three times. But they had never reported. It’s only today that an official complaint was lodged. No case of rape was reported. Nobody has come forward to say that she was raped,” she said.
Asked if it was true that policemen were supposed to be guarding the gate of the school, Braide said: “The school has a large expanse of land. In fact, about 10 hectares of land. It has many entry points. It was only BOND FM that requested for just two policemen as guards. Anyway, immediately we received the complaint today, we send in our men. We have commenced investigation and beefed up security.”
