Students plan protest over missing LASU graduate
The Lagos State Chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students Joint Campus Council has condemned the alleged murder of Adedamola Ogunbode, a 2024 graduate of Lagos State University.
Although the Lagos State Police Command has maintained that Ogunbode’s case remains that of a “missing person” investigation, the students alleged that he was “killed in cold blood by a so-called prophet in Ojo, Lagos State.”
The LASU Political Science Education graduate has reportedly been missing since January 16, 2025, amid rumours that his mutilated body had been discovered.
However, the command’s spokesperson, Chief Superintendent of Police Benjamin Hundeyin, has refuted this claim.
Hundeyin also disclosed that three suspects, including a prophet, had been arrested in connection with the case.
In a Thursday statement jointly signed by the state chairman, Abdul-Raheem Abdul-Quadri, and the Public Relations Officer, Ridwan Ajayi, NANS JCC Lagos, described the alleged killing as “a direct attack on the Nigerian student community.”
They stated that the incident was a “reflection of how insecure and unsafe” Nigeria has become for young people striving for a better future.
The students demanded “an expedited, transparent, and decisive legal process” to ensure justice is served, warning that they “will resist any attempts at political interference or compromise.”
Among their demands, they called on the state government to acknowledge that “students and graduates are no longer safe in their communities. If young people can be killed in such gruesome circumstances, what hope is left for the future of Nigeria? We demand special security measures around tertiary institutions and student communities.”
They also called for stricter oversight of religious organisations, stating, “While religion remains a fundamental right, it must not be a cover for crime and bloodshed.
“We call on the Lagos State Government and law enforcement agencies to conduct a full-scale audit of religious centres operating within student environments to root out criminal activities hiding under religious pretences.”
Emphasising their commitment to ensuring justice, the students declared, “We demand to be officially included in the investigative process. We refuse to be spectators while justice is being decided for one of our own.
“We warn the government, the Nigeria Police, and all relevant authorities: Nigerian students will not watch this case be swept under the rug. If urgent actions are not taken, NANS will be forced to mobilise the full strength of the student movement across Lagos State in protest.
“This is beyond Adedamola; this is about the fundamental right to life that every Nigerian student deserves. We will not sit idle while students and graduates are hunted and butchered.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Ogunbode. We stand in full solidarity with the LASU student body in this moment of grief.”
PUNCH Metro recalls that the management of LASU, in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Deputy Registrar and Coordinator, Centre for Information and Public Relations, Oluwayemisi Thomas-Onashile, demanded justice for the 28-year-old graduate.
Thomas-Onashile stated that investigations by the security agencies revealed that the deceased’s mutilated body was purportedly found buried in the compound of a popular church in the area.
“The university management is deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Ogunbode, a recent graduate of LASU. The deceased, fondly known as Horlar, was allegedly killed by a prophet in the Ojo area of Lagos State, reportedly for ritual purposes.
According to the report received by the management, Ogunbode, a 28-year-old graduate of Political Science Education, had been missing since January 16,” Thomas-Onashile stated.
A similar case involving a missing LASU final-year student was reported in 2022, 17 months after he disappeared on May 21, 2019, after leaving his home on Oseni Salawu Street, Egan-Igando, for school but never returning.
