The Asset Management Company of Nigeria on Thursday invaded Providence High School, Enugu, with over 50 riot policemen to take possession of the school with 344 boarding students.
The PUNCH gathered that the officials of AMCON had stormed the private boarding school for girls around 1.30pm and came back at 5.30pm with armed policemen.
The policemen were said to have cordoned off all the entrances to the college and ordered all the staff to vacate the premises.
They also insisted that the students must also vacate their hostels, claiming that the property was used to borrow money from banks by the late owner, Ferdinand Anaghara, who gave the property to Mrs Elizabeth Onwuagha.
When our correspondent, who visited the school, approached the officials of AMCON, he was ordered out by policemen led by one Inspector Sheidrack.
He was also told not to report the assault on a male worker for allegedly asking why the policemen threatened to lock up the students if they didn’t vacate the property.
Onwuagha, who spoke to our correspondent, described the invasion of the college with armed security agents by Federal Government officials as an act of terrorism.
She said late Anaghara gave her the property, which had only two buildings, to start the school in 1997 for free.
She said, “He gave this to us as a favour. He gave me all the photocopy documents of the property and said he would give us original documents at a later date.
“When we went for the original documents he said, ‘My sister, I will give it to you when the time is ripe. Unfortunately, in 2007 he died. We didn’t know he owed. In 2016, 19 years after he had given us the property and nine years after his death AMCON came.
“Their leader said then that because it was school they would leave the school open but we should find money and pay what Ferdinand owes. I told them that I do not have money and school didn’t have money; that schools are social services.
“We wrote a letter to AMCON stating our own side; the letter was submitted on August 1, 2016, but there was no reply till today. All of a sudden, AMCON invaded the school with policemen, when the students were still in class and ordered everyone to vacate; that they come to take possession of the property.”
PUNCH.
