Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) carried out a midnight raid on private hostels at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), arresting several students in the early hours of Saturday.
The raid took place in the Kwakwalawa and Gidan Yaro communities, which are predominantly populated by university students.
According to eyewitnesses, EFCC operatives stormed the hostels around 4 a.m., arresting multiple students without explanation.
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“They came at dawn, entered our rooms, and began arresting us without any explanation,” one student recounted. As of now, the EFCC has not issued any statement or provided reasons for the arrests.
This incident mirrors a similar raid conducted in February at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), where EFCC officials raided student hostels outside the campus in the middle of the night. During that operation, which took place in the Orita Obele and Road Block areas, officials reportedly broke into rooms and arrested students around 2 a.m.
Some FUTA students initially mistook the EFCC operatives for kidnappers due to the aggressive nature of the raid. Eyewitnesses from that raid reported that the officials, from the Benin Zonal office, allegedly damaged property and physically assaulted many students, including female occupants.
Following the FUTA raid, the executive chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, had issued a directive prohibiting midnight raids by the commission’s operatives. However, the recent events at UDUS suggest the practice may still be ongoing.
