Tears flowed on Sunday as family, friends and the Federal University of Lafia (FULAFIA) community buried 400-level Chemistry student, Habiba Ummi Lele, who was gunned down by suspected armed robbers in Nasarawa State.
Habiba was reportedly shot dead on Saturday when armed robbers opened fire on the vehicle taking her back to Lafia after attending a friend’s graduation ceremony at the College of Health and Technology, Keffi. She died instantly.
The Executive Chairman of Awe Local Government Area, Umar Abubakar Dan’AKano, and the lawmaker representing Awe North Constituency, Hudu A. Hudu Kanje, joined mourners at her funeral prayer held on Sunday at Kanje’s residence.
Relatives, friends and sympathisers gathered to pay their last respects as grief swept through the community.
The killing sparked widespread outrage online, with Nigerians mourning the young undergraduate and blaming the country’s worsening insecurity.
On Facebook, Mujahid Saleh Saad prayed for Allah to forgive Habiba’s shortcomings, comfort her loved ones and protect travellers from harm.
Instagram user Stephiny Ugomma lamented the growing wave of tragic incidents, writing: “To hear good news these days is by God’s grace.”
Another Facebook user, Tony Ocheni, decried the country’s security crisis, saying the number of people being killed in Nigeria is “higher than countries that are fighting wars.”
An Instagram user, The Quiet, described the situation in Nasarawa as frightening, warning that rising armed robbery and kidnapping cases were claiming too many innocent lives.
Habiba’s killing came just days after suspected gunmen abducted three 100-level FULAFIA students during a late-night raid on Sure Leaders Lodge, an off-campus hostel in the Bukan Kwato area of Lafia.
The attackers reportedly stormed the lodge around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday and whisked the students away, raising fresh fears over the safety of students living off campus.
The back-to-back attacks have triggered fresh calls for the Nasarawa State Government and security agencies to beef up security around student communities and major roads.
However, authorities had yet to issue an official statement on the robbery attack as efforts to free the kidnapped undergraduates continued.
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