In the night of August 13, 2015 – around 12 midnight – Bimbola (not real name) and her roommate returned from a night reading class in preparation for their forthcoming exam in November, locked their room and were about to sleep when they heard their hostel mates jamming their doors, screaming and walking up the hostel stairs.
Before they knew what was happening, some men were at their door and expectedly, they forced the door open.
Before they knew what was happening, some men were at their door and expectedly, they forced the door open.
With fear and trembling, Bimbola and her roommate did their bidding.
Three hefty fearful-looking men, clad in black polos and jeans, armed with guns, machetes and axes
had stormed their hostel – located in the Under G Area of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State – and demanded that all the students, both male and female, should gather in one room.
had stormed their hostel – located in the Under G Area of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State – and demanded that all the students, both male and female, should gather in one room.
While one of the hoodlums stayed with the students, pointing guns at them should they ‘misbehave,’ the other two locked the entrance to the hostel, ransacked all rooms one after the other, stole the students’ laptops, money, debit cards, tablets and mobile phones.
But even after stealing all their property, the robbers were not done. The next command they gave the students was what Bimbola has not yet gotten over with.
She narrated her painful, unimaginable and dehumanising ordeal to PUNCH Metro in a very tearful interview last Monday. The dry white handkerchief she was holding was soaked with tears after trying to stop weeping for a while, but couldn’t resist it.
She told Punch:
But what was more pathetic about Bimbola’s story was that she didn’t just witness the whole action; she was also asked to have sex with a guy she never dated.
Everything happened like it was a dream. They pointed at a guy I knew as my junior and asked him to do ‘it’ with me. When I refused, they slapped me and I fell. I had no option than to do it. I looked at my roommate and she was already shedding tears for me. How humiliated I was!” she cried.
She continued:
Since July when they resumed for the semester, the students of LAUTECH have been witnessing robbery attacks and rape by the same set of unknown men – who call themselves ‘Three MOPOLs’ each time they barge into their victims’ hostels.
Though the institution is non-residential, individuals and private organisations provide accommodation for the students around the university.
An official of the institution, with whom some of the victims and eyewitnesses had shared their ordeal with, told Saturday PUNCH that they confided in him saying they were asked to have sex with other female students during the robbery operations.
The President of the SUG of the institution, Olatunde Bakare, said he had been personally leading a team of student vigilantes since July due to the alleged nonchalant attitude of the police and the school management previously.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Lekan Fadeyi, said the insinuation that the university management didn’t do anything on the rape and robbery incidents was far from the truth. He said the school had, before the incidents, teamed up with landlords of students’ hostels in hiring security officials to patrol the hostels.
He, however, said it was a challenge providing security for the over 4,000 students of the institution, being a non-residential one.