Authorities of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, has condemned the midnight invasion of some students’ hostels by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Daily Trust reports that men of the anti-graft agency in the early hours of Wednesday, raided some students’ hostels located off-campus at the Orita Obele Area of Akure, the state capital.
It was gathered that the operatives, in a sting operation around 2 am, arrested some of the students and allegedly assaulted the females among them while trying to break into the hostels.
The President of the Students Union Government (SUG) in FUTA, Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, who had confirmed the invasion in a statement, alleged that the operatives of the EFCC broke into over three hostels off campus and took the students away.
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Oluwasoromidayo, who described the arrest as illegal, noted that some female students were molested during the process while the officers also destroyed their properties.
Also, in a statement, the school management said the operatives barged in and violently woke up the sleeping students, treating them most unfairly in the course of their sting operation.
Mr Adegbenro Adebanjo, the Director of Corporate Communication of FUTA, who signed the statement on behalf of the authorities, said the management was already in contact with EFCC to profile those arrested during the sting operation to determine their actual identities and status.
He said, “The University expresses strong reservation about the timing and mode of the operation said to have taken place around 2:00 am on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
“The University is in touch with the EFCC to ascertain the identity of those arrested and validate their studentship and also to ensure that innocent FUTA students are not punished for offences they have not committed.”
Daily Trust reports that the invasion of the FUTA students hostels came three months after EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, ordered a ban on sting operations at night in all commands of the anti-graft agency.