MANAGEMENT of the University of Ilorin has advised students of the institution to be security conscious, saying that a male student of the institution (names withheld) was recently kidnapped by suspected ritualists and forced to drink blood from an unknown source before setting him free.
Speaking during student/management interactive programme, organised by the newly elected students union executives in Ilorin on Wednesday, the sub-dean student's affairs of the institution, Dr Alex Akanmu, warned students against accepting or begging for a lift from strangers in order not to fall prey of suspected ritualists on the prowl.
The subdean, who said that the incident occurred two weeks ago in one of the Government Reserved Area (GRA), in the state capital, added that the victim was offered a lift by unknown person who disguised as a good Samaritan after a commercial motorcycle he boarded dropped him off without taking him to his destination, "unknown to the victim that it was a plot against him."
Dr Akanmu also said that the victim on entering the vehicle said that he noticed that two other occupants in the car were unconscious and also suffered the same fate as he suddenly found himself in a ritualist den in Offa town in Kwara State.
"From the Offa branch, they transferred him to another branch of the ritualists in Ogbomoso, they said they have enough boys", he said.
He said the victims were also rejected in Ogbomoso branch on the account that they needed girls and was asked to be set free since he did not suit the purpose for which he was kidnapped.
"But that is not the end of the story, they had his nail cut, asked him to drink his own urine and blood from unknown sources," he said.
Akanmu said the victim had been reunited with his family after the school management received a distress text message he sent and picked him from where he was dumped around 6 pm on Sunday.
The sub-dean advised students to be more security conscious and warned them against accepting or begging for a lift from strangers in order not to fall prey of suspected ritualists the prowl.
Akanmu said the management had secured additional 1000 bed spaces for boys through a private-public partnership in order to accommodate more students on campus ."The more we are expanding, the more we have security problems to address," he said.
In his address, the new Students' Union President of the Institution, Comrade Adebisi Ridwanaullah said the student union body would soon convey a security meeting of stakeholders including landlords housing students living off- campus to address the security threats in their areas.
He said the institution is the most sort after in the country was contending with increasing number of students and that there was the need for stakeholders to come together and chat a way forward on how to tackle emerging security challenges.
Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor, Sulyman Abdulkarem Age, said the institution currently had about 50,000 students but majority of them were staying off campus.
He said the institution was partnering with individuals and organisation to provide more accommodation for students on campus.
