Nigerian students have accused police operatives of complicity in the alleged murder of Quadri Ogunbode, a 28-year-old graduate of the Lagos State University.
Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students and the National Association of Ogun State Students made the allegation in a press conference on Thursday in Abeokuta.
They accused the Lagos State Police Command of playing what they described as a “hanky-panky game.”
NANS Vice President, Inter-Campus and Gender Affairs, Felicia Akinbodunse, alleged that a maternal aunt of the main suspect in Quadri’s murder is a senior police officer
She stated that the student body would “resist any attempt by the said aunt to wield her influence to tamper with the investigation.”
Akinbodunse maintained that anyone culpable in the case, no matter how connected or influential, should be made to face the full weight of the Law
“This morning, we are before you, to air our displeasure over the lackadaisical approach employed by the police, and possibly their complicity in the case of the disappearance of Quadri since January 17,” she said.
“For almost two months, police have refused to come out outrightly and declared that Quadri had been killed by his abductors or should we say, assailants. Rather, they labelled the case as that of a missing person, even when concrete evidence pointed to the fact that the victim must have been murdered.
“Some startling discoveries were made as a lump sum of money was transferred by the main suspect to some people, including a Shepherd of a Celestial Church and his daughter. Ordinarily, this discovery was sufficient to pin the culpable murder case on the main suspect and the Shepherd. On the contrary, the police continued to drag the matter on, while parents of Quadri were languishing in agony, pains and bereavement”
“Gentlemen of the press, it was this hanky-panky game being played by the police that necessitated our blocking of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Monday, to call the attention of the IGP to the matter.
“But we were shocked to learn through the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command that two suspects planned to be apprehended have escaped to the neighbouring Republic of Benin.
“We view this as absurd and unacceptable. Could it be that those suspects had been tipped off, hence, their fleeing? To us, this case is a clear case of murder. And we believe that since the police arrested the main suspect and Church Shepherd, swift investigations should have led to the arrest of the fleeing suspects.
“However, our findings revealed that the maternal aunt of the main suspect in Quadri’s murder is a senior police officer. As student leaders, we shall resist any attempt by the said aunt to wield her influence to tamper with the investigation, thereby, exonerating her nephew.
“To this end, we say a big No to any police complicity in the matter! Everybody who is culpable in the case, no matter how connected or influential he or she is, should be made to face the music.
“We are waiting and watching as events unfold. We will continue to mobilize and rally relevant stakeholders to ensure the truth of the matter is unveiled and justice is done,” she added.
The students had on Monday stormed the Mowe Axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to protest Quadri’s disappearance, urging the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene and order a special investigation into the case.
Quadri, a 28-year-old Political Science Education graduate of Lagos State University, Ojo was reportedly kidnapped on January 16, 2025, in a neighbourhood very close to a Celestial Church around the LASU community in Lagos.
He was said to have gone out to get food for his sick girlfriend on the night of the said day and never returned home.
Spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed that four suspects have been arrested in connection with the case, including a prophet and a search for four others is ongoing.
The police on Wednesday also exhumed the body of Quadri which was buried in a shallow grave behind the LASU fence in its Ojo Campus.
