Police round up two UNIBEN students over alleged drowning of colleague

 

 

By Ibrahim Ishaku

Two students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) are currently in police custody over the death by drowning of 23-year-old Francis Aniude.

 

The police announced that the suspects were Samson Kennedy, a 200-level student of Biochemistry and Wilfred Emmanuel, a 500-level student of Optometry. They were being investigated over alleged complicity in the death of Aniude, a final-year student of the Department of Chemistry at Ekosodin River where he allegedly drowned.

 

According to reports, the two students were neighbours of Aniude and had allegedly invited him Ekosodin River for sightseeing on the 29th of June 2023 where he allegedly drowned.

 

The Edo State Police Command spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the two students were arrested to help the police in investigating the circumstances behind the death.

 

According to him, “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 investigation. 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 very important so that we can know what made them leave their hostel and go to that river at that point of time and what happened right there in the river,” he said.

 

But a student of the Department of Chemistry, who pleaded anonymity as per reporting by Vanguard Newspaper, alleged that the two students remain the prime suspects. He 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.”