Oladepo Joshua and Kelechi Ejike, two students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, protested Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike’s visit to the campus on Thursday but other students fear they were arrested after security removed them from Oduduwa Hall.

While there are concerns that Joshua and Ejike may have been arrested because their whereabouts have been unknown since they were escorted out of the hall around 2 pm, the school management said it was not aware of any arrest.

Videos obtained by FIJ show the two students holding placards inside the Oduduwa Hall, where OAU hosted Wike as the presenter for the school’s 2025 Distinguished Personality Lecture.

Chanting phrases like “Compensations for the houses you demolished!” and “Minister Wike!”, it was obvious that the protesting students opposed the demolition of homes in Abuja, which the Minister spearheaded.

Between late 2024 and 2025, Wike approved the demolition of properties deemed illegal in the FCT. This move drew widespread public criticism, with many Nigerians calling for compensation for the demolished structures.

In the videos FIJ saw, some men approached Joshua and Ejike and manhandled them while confronting them for protesting inside the hall.

Sources expressed concern that the students may have been arrested.

“We are concerned that a joint task force, including police, DSS and the minister’s security team, might have arrested them because no one knows their whereabouts right now,” a witness, who does not want to be named, told FIJ.

When FIJ called Abiodun Olanrewaju, OAU’s public relations officer, he said the students were not arrested but were escorted out of the hall for their own safety.

“I am not aware of any arrest, but I am aware of a rescue. I am aware that two students protested and some other students wanted to rough-handle them,” Olanrewaju disclosed.

“I am aware that the security operatives quickly intervened, took the two students outside the hall. I don’t know what else transpired because I was the one who anchored the programme. Some of their colleagues had already moved to them, wanting to beat them up. We did not want anything nasty to happen, so the security operatives escorted the two students out.

“It’s a case of a microscopic minority, two students, wanting to disrupt the programme that the majority of the students were interested in. So, when the other students stood up, security operatives had to rescue them and escort them out.”