Bingham University dissociates self from killing of Abuja Bolt driver, says suspected students were already on suspension

It has been five days since the Police in Abuja paraded three suspects over the alleged killing of a Bolt driver in the  federal capital territory, FCT Abuja.

This has raised concerns from several quarters, questioning the reputation of a highly reverred educational institution in the country and the impact of parents’ home training on their children as well as the effect of the efforts of teachers and lecturers in schools.

On June 5th, 2023 at about 2130 hours, a corpse was found lying in a pool of blood with a slit throat at Ngugu Close, Area 11 Garki Abuja.

As residents reported the discovery to the Police who reportedly launched an investigation into the matter, it was discovered that the victim, one Obasi Okeke was a bolt driver who had been killed and dumped there by his assailants.

Further investigations which led to the arrest of three suspects recently, also revealed that the suspects are undergraduate students of Bingham University located in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

However, following their arrest, the management of the institution has dissociated itself from the incident, saying all three students arrested recently in connection with the murder case had been suspended from the school prior to the incident.

In a statement made available to journalists through the University’s Director of Public Affairs, Daburi Misal on Tuesday, the university explained that the alleged killing occurred after the suspects, Obasieyene Inem, Aaron Anthony and Alasan Olusegun had been suspended for drug abuse by the institution.

Daburi explained that the statement was in reaction to viral social media reports on the arrest of the suspects for the alleged crime, by authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command – a development which equally has the tendencies of tainting the corporate image of the institution.

According to the statement, “The management of Bingham University hereby expresses its profound sadness over the development and states that the affected students were in March 2023 identified through the university’s zero-tolerance policy on drugs and suspended from the university for being in possession of marijuana and other illicit substances.

“As required by our regulations, the students should have been taken to a rehabilitation centre by their guardians and taken back to the university only after their certification by the university’s psychiatrist.

“It was therefore shocking to see that the students who were supposed to be in rehabilitation were being paraded by the police in Abuja.

“The university however pledges its full cooperation with the police in their investigation into the matter while expressing its deepest sympathy to the family of the deceased.”

Meanwhile, accounts by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba who paraded the suspects last Thursday, explains that one of the suspects ordered a ride on the Bolt App to take them to and from where they purchased Indian hemp, afterwhich the suspects discovered that they had no money on them.

He said the suspects then decided to trick the driver by showing him a fake debit alert on their phone but the driver insisted that he had not received an alert and this resulted in a argument.

“The painstaking investigation to ascertain those behind this dastardly act led to the arrest of the three suspects namely Obasieyene Inem, Aaron Anthony and Alasan Olusegun.

“In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the deceased was a Bolt driver who was called by one of the suspects to convey them to the Guzape Area of Abuja where they had visited to buy Indian hemp.

“Back from Guzape to their take-off point, they discovered they had no money to pay for their trip, so they decided to play a fast one by showing the deceased a fake debit alert on their phone.”

“The deceased insisted he had not received any alert. In the ensuing argument, one of the suspects slit the deceased’s throat and fled the scene. The three suspects have since confessed to the crime and will be charged soon,” the FCT Police Commissioner, Garba said.