THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied allegations that its operatives shot students of the Kwara State University during a raid on the school hostels on Thursday, February 22.
A statement by the commission on its X account noted that the commission didn’t conduct any operation on the said date, adding that there was no shooting of any student.
The ICIR reported on Friday, February 23, that some security operatives alleged to be operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, and the Nigerian police force fired shots and teargas to disperse students protesting against the continuous raid of their hostels.
The recent raid, which led to the arrest of 48 students, as confirmed by the EFCC, was carried out in the early hours of Tuesday, February 20, against a standing order by the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede.
Subsequently, in response to another attempt by the security personnel to arrest some students from the university, the students engaged in a mass protest. They set fire to tyres on roads leading to the institution.
Refuting the reports and social media posts indicating that the EFCC participated in the shooting of the students while protesting, the commission noted that it had no joint operation with the NDLEA at the university.
The statement partly read, “The said report was fabricated as the operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC neither visited Kwara State University on Thursday, February 22, 2024, nor had any joint operation with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
“The only operation by the commission happened a day earlier and involved the arrest of 48 students of Kwara State University. It was a well-coordinated and professional exercise devoid of any incident. And no other agency was involved in the operation.
“The public is enjoined to be wary of fabricated stories designed to mislead the public about the works of the EFCC or incite the people against the commission. EFCC remains focused, un-fazed by blackmail, and totally committed to its mandate of tackling all forms of economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M