The Edo State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of individuals suspected to have been involved in the alleged killing of two students from Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma.
The tragic incident occurred last Friday when unidentified gunmen, believed to be cultists, shot and killed two students outside the school premises.
This followed another violent event where a student known as Eddy was reportedly beaten to death by a group of individuals, allegedly over the use of a fake bank alert.
The news of Eddy’s brutal demise was misunderstood as an attack by rival cult groups, leading to a retaliatory action that resulted in the deaths of the two students on Friday.
One of the victims was identified as a 400-level student in the Faculty of Agriculture and also served as a student union official.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the incident and the arrest of suspects, stating that “an investigation is ongoing in the matter, and some suspects have been arrested.”
Speaking to PUNCH Metro, the Head of Corporate Communications and Protocol at the university, Mike Aladenika clarified that the incident occurred off-campus and confirmed the identity of one victim from the previous incident.
Aladenika stated that the university could not verify if the victims in the recent incident were students of the institution.
In his words; “The only one we can confirm as a student of the school was in the first incident, but I don’t know about the second incident.”
He expressed dismay at the involvement of students in cult activities despite the university’s strong stance against such behavior, emphasizing the commitment to maintaining a zero-tolerance policy towards cultism.
“Unfortunately, some of our students were alleged to have been involved in the supposed cult activities despite the university’s zero tolerance for cultism. It should be restated for emphasis that the authorities of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma have zero tolerance for any defiant societal behaviour, cultism inclusive.”
“Also note the reference to one of the victims being an SUG official is untrue. There is no SUG in place presently in the AAU.
“We are also confident that the police would do diligent investigations thus bringing the culprits to book,” Aladenika added.
