EFCC releases 59 arrested OAU students

Fifty-Nine of the 69 students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife arrested by operatives of the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) have been released, the school management confirmed last night.
They were released to the management and parents.

The remaining 10 students, arrested in a night raid on their hostels by the operatives, were still being detained by the anti-graft agency.

It said that those in the EFCC custody have strong case to answer over fraud among other sundry offences.

The OAU management broke the news to The Nation through its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Abiodun Olarewaju in a telephone chat.

He said: “We are on our way coming going back to Ile-Ife from Ibadan now; they (EFCC) have released the students to us(management) and their parents who are present at the commission this evening.

“They detained 10 out of those that were arrested, they told us that they have strong case to answer. We are on our way and I will brief you more about it tomorrow. Thank you!”

The Nation reports that operatives of EFCC invaded the hostel of the student during a midnight operation, arresting 69 students on Wednesday which was welcomed by outrage and protest.

The Nation gathered that operatives of the anti-graft agency, around 1am yesterday, stormed two off-campus hostels of the university at Superb and Fine Touch at Oduduwa Estate and arrested the students.

Sources around the campus said the operatives came in unregistered buses.

A source, identified simply Favour, said: “The operatives came prepared because they came with a lot of buses. We thought they were armed robbers initially because they were banging the doors and ordered all occupants to come out. We later saw the operatives that wore EFCC’s red jackets and they forcefully took male students away. They, however, left the females.”

Earlier, Olarewaju said the raided hostel is located outside the school campus.

He said: “The university has sent delegates to the EFCC office. We want to be sure of the numbers of our students who were arrested. We want to be sure that our students are not unduly harassed, intimidated or abused. The management has mandated us to go to Ibadan and find out because the welfare of our students is important to us.

“We also want to ascertain how many (of those arrested) are actually our students because we don’t want people saying all those arrested are OAU students, whereas some may not be. This will help us to know who to fight for, defend and protect.”

Aggrieved OAU students have taken their protest to the Ibadan office of the anti-graft agency. They carried placards, which read, among others: “We are students, not criminals”; “Free OAU students”; “EFCC must stop illegal activities”; “My security as a student should be a priority.”

The protesters sang solidarity songs and demanded immediate and unconditional release of their colleagues.

Amid the protest, masked EFCC operatives shot into the air to scare the students away, forcing the protesters to run helter-skelter.

Chairman of Osun Campus Committee of the National Association of University Students (NAUS), Yinka Popoola, said: “They (EFCC operatives) were shooting in the air to scare us away. It was a show of shame. They did same few days ago at the College of Forestry. We are demanding an unconditional release of all the students that were arrested.”

In a statement on its verified Facebook page, the EFCC confirmed that it arrested 69 suspected internet fraudsters at Ile-Ife.

The statement reads: “They were arrested on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at Oduduwa Estate area of Ile-Ife, Osun State, following actionable intelligence on their suspected involvement in fraudulent internet-related activities. Credible intelligence linked Oduduwa Estate with activities of suspected internet fraudsters.”

The statement listed the names of the 69 students the operatives arrested.