Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, OAU, have demanded an apology from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC following the arrest of 69 students over alleged internet fraud.
The commission had in a raid in the wee hours of Wednesday, whisked away some students of the institution living in hostels outside campus.
According to the Students’ Union of the university, the students were driven by the EFCC from the university environment in Ile-Ife, Osun, to the commission’s office in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
This spurred a protest by the students who stormed the zonal office of the EFCC located at Iyaganku, Ibadan enmasse.
Consequent upon their action and with the intervention of the school management, 58 of the students were reportedly released same Wednesday while 11 remained in custody of the anti-graft agency.
Speaking to newsmen, OAU Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olanrewaju, who confirmed the release of the students to newsmen said, “Fifty eight of the students were released to us. The remaining 11 of them have cases to answer.”
However, things took a turn on Thursday when checks on the verified Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram pages of the EFCC showed that the previous posts on the arrest of the suspects could not be found.
In the deleted posts, the EFCC had on Wednesday said, “They (the 69 suspects) were arrested on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at the Oduduwa Estate area of Ile-Ife, Osun State, following actionable intelligence on their suspected involvement in fraudulent Internet-related activities. Credible intelligence linked the Oduduwa Estate with activities of suspected internet fraudsters.”
The agency disclosed further that, “The suspects have made useful statements to the EFCC and will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a statement signed by the Students’ Union officials, the students are demanding an apology from the EFCC while stating that they should clear the names of their members.
According to the students union, efforts were ongoing to seek the release of the remaining 11.
The statement read in part;
“Also, with the demand for the release of our students, the leadership of the union is making concerted efforts with legal practitioners to guarantee the protection of Great Ife students within and off campus against the decadent actions of these misguided law enforcement agencies.
“We also demand that the EFCC tenders a public release clearing the names of the unlawfully incarcerated (students) of the unfounded allegations published on their media handles and broadcast to the whole country in which the earlier published posts had already been pulled down across all their social media platforms,” the statement jointly signed by the union’s president, Abbas Ojo; Secretary General, Akinboni Opeyemi and PRO, Omisore Elijah, partly said.
Speaking further, the union’s PRO, Omisore, who interfaced with newsmen said, “We want the EFCC to apologise and clear the names of the students (earlier published).”
Omisore said that the leadership of the union and other students were still at the EFCC office in Ibadan, where efforts, including legal ones, were being explored to ensure the release of the 11 detained persons.
