The absence of the presiding Judge handling the case of six students and a lecturer at Madonna University, Okija who had been held in Awka prison, Anambra State since February this year on Tuesday stalled their bail.

Recall that the students and the lecturer were arrested and imprisoned over an alleged Facebook comment against the institutions.

Their incarceration came on the heels of a petition by the management of the university to the Inspector General of Police.

But despite meeting their bail conditions, they were still remanded in prison and yesterday's adjournment makes it third time in a role the court had failed to sit.

Parents of the students who flocked the Federal High Court 11, Awka with lawyers and in anticipation of their release waited for the arrival of the Judge, Justice Babatunde Quadri but were crest fallen when the court clerk at about 3:00pm announce that the matter had been stood down for 9.00am tomorrow (Wednesday).

Speaking to journalists at the court premises, some parents of the students said that they had concluded plans to withdraw over 205 wards from the institution to other universities starting from the next academic session.

Spokesman of the parents, Mr. Christopher Onyejekwe, said several meetings had already been held by the parents.

According to him, the contacts were being made with authorities of other universities for their transfer.

He regretted that an institution he had supported since its establishment in 1999 and ensured that his children and those of his friends attended had turned round to ruin the careers of the six students and the lecturer even as he added that four of his children passed through the school.

On his part, the Vice President in charge of national affairs of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr. Chidi Ilogebe, threatened to mobilise students nationwide to shut down the institution.

He said: “It is unfair for the university management to allege that the students were criminals, cultists and fraudsters. NANS is sure that they are neither kidnappers, nor fraudsters or cultists as alleged.

“We are not in a tyrannical or dictatorship rule and we are not practicing totalitarian system where the masses have no voice.

“Students are intellectuals and are allowed to voice out whenever they feel that things are not going well, most especially on our campuses.

“The Madonna University management may think that it has money to intimidate students, but we want to tell them that we cannot keep quiet and allow them to have their way.”

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