Operatives from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had in the early hours of Saturday conducted a midnight raid on some private hostels of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) leading to the arrests of an undisclosed number of students.
Eyewitnesses, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, revealed that the raid occurred in the Kwakwalawa and Gidan Yaro communities area within the campus.
He said dozens of students were picked up by the EFCC operatives.
Also, one of the students, who simply identified himself as Abdul, said officials of the anti-graft agency stormed their hostels around 4 am and arrested several students.
“It was like a scene from a movie. We thought they were kidnappers at first, but then we saw the EFCC logo on their vests”, the student said.
He claimed that the EFCC operatives did not provide any explanation for the arrests or produce any warrants.
Another student who spoke to Sunday PUNCH on condition of anonymity condemned the raid which he said was not acceptable in a civilize society.
“This is unacceptable. “We demand answers from the EFCC. What were they looking for? Why did they arrest our colleagues?”
Efforts to get the reaction of the school management was not successful as the phone number of the Public Relations Officer of the school, Ismaila Muhammad, could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, a senior staff of the school, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to speak with journalists, confirmed that no fewer than 40 students were arrested during the raid.
He disclosed that after some level of investigation by the agency, 30 of the students have been released with 10 others still with the EFCC.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the arrest of UDUS students to Sunday PUNCH.
He stated that only 13 students were arrested in connection with Internet fraud.
He said, “We don’t do raids. The word raid connotes force, and we don’t do that. What we do regularly is sting operations. Sting operations are a globally acceptable manner of conducting arrests, not raids.
“Secondly, the arrests were made outside the Usman Dan Fodio campus. The two locations where the arrests were made were outside the school and only 13 of them were arrested. They are suspected internet fraudsters”.
