The campus was deserted yesterday, with no lectures taking place and most offices closed.

Any passerby at the Molyko campus of the University of Buea on Thursday 16 May needed not to be told that something was wrong as the lecture halls, streets and offices that used to be busy with academic and administrative activities were virtually empty.

There was relative calm on campus and a few workers, mostly support staff and a handful of students, were present when Cameroon Tribune visited ‘The Place To Be,’ as the university is fondly referred to. ‘The Place To Be’ had become a place not to be following the May 15, 2013 skirmishes between some supposed student leaders and campus security guards. The students embarked on a violent strike, destroying cars, vandalizing offices, brutalizing other students and UB security guards, leaving six people injured. Eight of the suspects were arrested and detained at the Buea Judicial Police.

The students are demanding the organization of elections into the University of Buea Students’ Union, UBSU and the suspension of court charges against some students facing trial at the Buea Court of First Instance for taking the Vice Chancellor hostage for so many hours in the first semester, amongst other issues.

Attempts to get the University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nalova Lyonga, to comment on the situation were futile as Cameron Tribune was told she was not on seat. And that she can only make any declaration after a crisis meeting that was taking place as at press time. While on campus, operatives of the Judicial Police in Buea, led by the head of that unit, drove in for investigations while another contingent was patrolling around the campus.

Some students who identified themselves as Faculty Officers of the Social and Management Sciences, told CT that the strike was illegal, given that the University of Buea Students’ Union has no executive now. The students who preferred anonymity, hinted that the UB Students’ Union (UBSU) exists in two ‘factions’ – with one allegedly led by non-students.

This group, they revealed, supposedly comes from Mutengene, and even a neighbouring country; and are often seen on campus during strikes. The other group, they said, are the real students who are patriotic and have the interests of the institution at heart. The former group, most often manipulates the union leaders and a few academically weak students to take part in some demonstrations, they alleged.