Management of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) has placed a ban on all social activities on campus following the recent killing of a final year male student identified as Desmond Obukobo Oghenerukhewe.
Desmond, popularly called ‘Mayor’ by colleagues, was last week Monday murdered in cold blood right inside his hostel room in the popular hall 3 Hall of Residence at the Ugbowo campus.
A memo issued by the university’s Dean of Students, Professor Clement Ighodaro, on Tuesday, said all “activities related to students gathering are suspended till further notice.”
Although the university management did not state the reason for the ban, the development may not be unconnected to the recent gruesome murder of the final year student on campus.
But this is not the first time that UNIBEN has placed restrictions on students’ activities on campus. Over the past years, the institution have adopted such ‘measures’ in the wake of killings of its students.
In 2019, the school banned all social activities on campus following the killing of a 200-level student simply identified as Aficionado by suspected cultists during a final year jean carnival by students of the the Faculty of Arts.
Similarly, in the wake of cult-related killings in Benin City, in 2021, UNIBEN restricted social activities on campus with a directive that all activities must be carried out with permission from the Dean of Students.
Unknown assailants on Monday April 3, sent ‘Mayor’, a final year Public Administration student to early grave. Security has been beefed up on campus in the wake of the incident, while normal activities, including academic, are ongoing.
Management of the university had pledged to intensify efforts to protect the lives of staff and students at all time and forestall re-occurrence of such incident within the university’s premises.
A statement endorsed by the UNIBEN’s spokesperson, Mrs Benedicta Ehanire, said ”Management is working closely with the internal security units in ensuring that such dastardly incident does not occur again within the University’s premises.”
While commiserating with the family and colleagues of the murdered student, the UNIBEN management enjoined other students to be calm “as the Police as well as other Security Agencies are working hard to fish out and arrest the culprit.”
On its part, the Edo State Police Command said the death of the final year student was caused by a rivalry war between two cult groups, adding that the deceased belonged to one of the outlawed secret cult groups.
Police spokesperson, SP Chidi Nwabuzor said the late Desmond, who was also the head of Kegites Club in UNIBEN, was a member of Maphites secret cult group and he was killed by members of the Bl@ck axe popularly called Eiye.
“Preliminary investigation showed that the victim was a member of Maphites while the killers are members of Aye. The DPO will transfer the case to the SCID to continue investigation,” the police image maker claimed.
More than one week, however, the police are yet to make arrests in connection to the incident. Efforts to obtain comments from the police spokesperson were unsuccessful.
