Two UNIBEN Students in Police Net for Alleged Drowning of Final Year Colleague in Edo

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Two students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have been arrested by men of the Nigerian Police Force, Edo State Command for allegedly taking their colleague, 23-years-old, Francis Aniude (a final year student of Department of Chemistry to Ekosodin River, where Aniude was said to have been drowned.

Samson Kennedy, a 200 level student of Biochemistry and Wilfred Emmanuel, a 500 level student of Optometry have been arrested.

Kennedy and Emmanuel were said to be neighbours with the late Aniude who invited him to the Ekosodin River for sight seeing on June 29, 2023, where he was allegedly drowned.

After the act, the two students were said to have ran back to the school campus to raise the alarm.

According to a student of the school in Department of Chemistry, who did not want his name in print said, “Francis was drowned in the Ekosodin River, located in an off-campus community near the school on 29th of June and was declared missing, but his body was recovered by local divers in the community on Saturday July 1.

“The discovery of blood on his lips and peeled skin around his neck region raised suspicion amongst family members and relatives who are demanding for an autopsy,” he said.

Confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer, Edo State Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, said the duo were arrested to help the police in investigating the circumstances behind the death.

“The case has been reported long ago at the Ugbowo Police Station. Eventually, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), and his men led a team of local divers to the scene of the incident, luckily enough, they were able to recover the body.

“The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigations.

Two persons were arrested, the reason being that they went together to swim in that river when the ugly incident occurred. “Arresting them is very important, so that we can know what made them leave their hostel and went to that river at that point of time and what happened right there in the river.” he said.