Caleb varsity, family bicker over disappearance of student

One month after the disappearance of John Oluwanifemi Olajide, a Caleb University student who allegedly went missing on the school premises, his father, Oni Olajide, has lamented the lack of cooperation from the school management.

Oluwanifemi, an undergraduate studying Computer Science in the institution, had sent disturbing messages to his elder sister, Stella Oni, on WhatsApp that some suspected cultists wanted him dead.

The 21-year-old was said to have warned his sister against disclosing the information to their parents.

It was learned that Oluwanifemi, who finished his examination on Friday, August 13, 2021, requested some money from his father to visit his mother in Ibadan.

Olajide said, “My son requested money for transportation on Monday, August 16, 2021, and I sent him N5,000. But I did not see any debit alert since it’s my ATM card he is using. I became worried and called a staff member of the school to check on him and the worker told me that the boy had left for Ibadan to see his mum.

“But I found out that he never arrived in Ibadan or signed out of the school. We suspected that the cultists he told his sister about abducted him.

“The reason my child did not go to a state university was because of cultism. I took him to Caleb University after accessing that CCTV was installed everywhere. But I am surprised that after my son went missing, they refused to give us access to the CCTV footage.”

He said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, for further investigation,

Also, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, said Caleb University had been a frustrating investigation into the case.

Reacting, Deputy Director, Public Relations and Marketing, Caleb University, Elvis Otobo, however, accused the family of the student of culpability.

She said: “According to our internal investigation and information obtained from WhatsApp chats between the siblings, we are of the strong conviction that this was a premeditated action, deliberately planned by John and sister. We do not know what could be their motive.

For instance, it was Stella, who transferred N4,000 to John, purportedly to facilitate his move to an unknown location outside the campus.   

John curiously used the money sent to him by the sister, but according to his father, did not withdraw the N4,000  sent earlier by him to his son.

The university management pasted John’s picture in various strategic locations within the campus to help in getting relevant information. It is the University that gave an electronic copy of John’s photograph to his father.

Otobo claimed that management reported the matter at the Imota Divisional Police Station with the sole objective of getting to the root of this matter.

(Courtesy The Guardian)