Osun varsity students in violent protest over killing of colleague by ritualists

Students of the University of  Osun (UNIOSUN), on Wednesday, went on the rampage in Osogbo to protest the killing of their colleague,  Oluwafemi Shonibare, by suspected ritualists.
The students, who gathered at the popular Ola-Iya junction as early as 7 a.m., blocked all the major roads with bonfire.
This resulted in restriction of vehicular movement for hours in the state capital.
The protesting students,  who wore  black shirts,  trousers and skirts, chanted  war songs and assaulted  motorists and journalists covering the protest.
They also  invaded the NUJ Correspondent Chapel’ s office at Fagbewesa where they  slapped a female journalist, Seun Adesokan, and assaulted  others for attempting to take their photographs.
The students also attacked a filling station  directly opposite the Correspondents’ Chapel office, destroying  a  refrigerator placed outside.
They also vandalised properties in other shops.
Shonibare, a 400 level Microbiology student of the institution, was declared missing on June 26 by the police.
The state Police Command  confirmed his killing by suspected ritualists after  Shonibare’s decomposing body was found in a  bush on Tuesday  close to the house of an Islamic cleric at Oke-Baale, Osogbo.
Angered by the incessant  disappearance of students in the vicinity, some of the residents had  set the cleric’s  house on fire and  also vandalised a mosque .
The police on Tuesday also paraded a 19-year-old  apprentice herbalist as well as two other accomplices, while one was said to be at large.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr Olufimihan Adeoye, while parading  the suspects,  said they  carried out the crime on June 26  about 7:30pm  at Oke-Bale area of Osogbo.
He said the suspects conspired and killed  the student by  hitting him on the head with a mortar  pestle.
Adeoye  said  the victim’s   head,  two wrists and palms were cut off  while his  remains were dumped in a  bush.
He said friends of the victim reported him missing on  June 27 at 7:45 pm while the information  obtained from them led to the arrest of   the apprentice herbalist as well as his two accomplices, aged  24 and 18.
The police boss  said the head, wrists and palms of the dead student, which were roasted in a black clay pot,  were recovered from  the apprentice herbalist and his confessional statement led to the arrest of others.
He also  said the remains of the victim  had been  deposited at the mortuary for autopsy while the suspects would be prosecuted.
A 400 level student at the Ipetu Ijesa Campus of UNIOSUN, Rofiat Adebisi, was also kidnapped by a driver in  December 2016 .
Her corpse was found some days later.
The spokesperson of the Osun Police Command, Folashade Odoro, said the protest was under control.