Police Arrest 2 UNIBEN Students Over Drowning Of Colleague

Two students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Samson Kennedy, a 200 level student of Biochemistry and Wilfred Emmanuel, a 500 level student of Optometry have been arrested by men of the Nigeria Police Force, Edo State Command.

They were nabbed for allegedly taking their colleague, 23-year-old, Francis Aniude (a final year student of Department of Chemistry) to Ekosodin River, where he drowned.

The duo, who were said to be neighbours with Aniude, allegedly invited him to the Ekosodin River for sightseeing on June 29, 2023, where he drowned. The detainees were said to have run back to the campus to raise the alarm after the incident.

An account from a student of the Department of Chemistry, who does 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, 2023.

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

Confirming the report, the spokesperson of the Edo State Police Command, SP 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 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 go and swim in that river when the ugly incident occurred.

“Arresting them is very important so that we can know what made them to leave their hostel and went to that river at that point in time and what happened right there in the river,” he said.