In a midnight raid on dorms off campus, around 70 students from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, were reportedly taken into custody by representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Our correspondent received confirmation on Wednesday morning from multiple sources in Ile-Ife that the officers had invaded the Fine Touch and Superb hostels in Oduduwa Estate, Ile-Ife, at around two in the morning, broken into rooms, and taken the students into custody.
As of the time of publication, the reason(s) for the arrest remained unconfirmed; however, Abass Ojo, President of the Students’ Union, disclosed that the union possessed information regarding “72 students picked up from the hostel with phones and cars taken away.”
Joy Abiola, a former union officer, informed our correspondent that the students had been physically assaulted.
“The EFCC officials came between 1:40 a.m and 4:00 a.m. Only students stay in those hostels,” Joy said, adding, “How can you arrest people for owning iPhones, laptops, and cars?”
Another student, identified simply as Ewatee, said, “Female students were among those picked up. Even some fresh students who just went to greet their senior colleagues were arrested. The approach is wrong.”
Some young people who were reportedly dormitory students were observed being herded into a white Hummer Bus by security guards, who beat them and gave them orders to get inside, according to a video that one of the students sent to our correspondent.
A white Hummer Bus was spotted traveling with roughly six other cars in a different video. The authorities, according to the students, were moving from the Ile-Ife region to Ibadan.
When contacted, Olumide Egbodofo, the head of the EFCC’s Public Affairs Department at the Ibadan Zonal Command, promised to provide an update on the situation.
“A press statement will be released regarding that soon,” the spokesperson added.
Also, the phone line of the university’s spokesperson, Abiodun Olarewaju, was unreachable as of press time.
