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Student dies by suicide days after Oyo Police detention over ₦8,000 debt
The 30-year-old aluminium fixer and student of a polytechnic in Kwara State had spent days in police detention and prison custody following a dispute that began with an alleged N8,000 debt.
His parents had stood as sureties to perfect his bail.
He was finally home and free.
But his mother, Simiat Mohammed, said the son who returned to the family was not the same man who had left days earlier.
He barely ate. He withdrew from people. Again and again, she said, Al-Amin complained about the humiliation of being detained, taken to court and remanded in prison over an allegation he insisted was untrue.
“He kept saying that they wanted to tarnish his image because he came from a poor family and that he was sent to prison for a crime he did not commit,” the grieving mother told Saturday PUNCH amid tears.
Three days after his release, tragedy struck.
On September 17, Al-Amin ingested rat poison at his residence in Ibadan.
Before then, according to his family, he recorded a voice note expressing frustration and saying what would become his final words to his mother.
“He said the frustration was too much and asked his siblings to take care of me. He mentioned my name and apologised, telling me not to be angry with him,” Simiat recalled.
The family rushed him from one hospital to another in a desperate attempt to save his life.
His father, Habeeb Mohammed, said three hospitals rejected him before the family eventually got to the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
“We were asked to make some payments before he could be attended to. After we paid, the doctor came and told us that he was dead,” he said.
For the Mohammed family, the death brought a devastating end to a chain of events that they say should never have gone beyond a minor disagreement.
How N8,000 debt became police case
According to Simiat, her son had borrowed N23,000 from a Point-of-Sale operator identified simply as Kazeem.
Al-Amin had repaid N15,000, leaving a balance of N8,000.
But a disagreement subsequently broke out, during which Kazeem allegedly seized Al-Amin’s mobile phone over the unpaid balance.
The 30-year-old later returned to retrieve his phone, leading to a struggle.
His mother said the confrontation was minor, but it set off events that eventually took her son through vigilante detention, a police cell, a courtroom and prison custody.
After the altercation, Al-Amin was allegedly detained overnight by a vigilante said to be the father of one of Kazeem’s employees.
The following day, September 9, he was allegedly handed over to officers at the Sanyo Divisional Police Station in Ibadan.
Simiat said she received a call the next day asking her to come to the station.
Like many mothers visiting a detained child, she went there carrying food.
“When I got to the station, I went with food for my son, but they did not allow me to give it to him. After some time, they brought him out of the cell and I spoke with him,” she said.
During that brief encounter, Al-Amin maintained his innocence over another allegation that had entered the dispute that he damaged a mobile phone belonging to Kazeem.
“He told me that he did not touch the phone, let alone spoil it. He said the only money he owed Kazeem was N8,000 and that he went to retrieve his phone after it had been seized, which led to the struggle,” she added.
‘They said they would jail him’
What Simiat expected would be resolved as a dispute between two young men allegedly took a more serious turn.
She claimed that the Investigating Police Officer, identified as Adekeye, insisted that Al-Amin would be prosecuted despite the family’s appeals for a settlement.
According to her, the family was asked to provide N100,000 for bail and another N70,000 for the damaged phone.
“When Kazeem came to the station, I pleaded with him that we should settle the matter. I also pleaded with the DCO, but he later sent me out of his office.
“The IPO, Adekeye, also said she would ensure that my son was jailed. There was even a police officer pleading on our behalf,” she alleged.
The deceased’s father, Habeeb, gave a similar account.
He alleged that the matter was escalated because the complainant’s father was known to the Divisional Crime Officer.
“When I got there, I begged the DCO that the matter could be settled amicably. But because the father of the complainant was his friend, he said he would deal with my son and send him to prison,” he stated.
The family further alleged that Al-Amin complained of harsh treatment while in detention and said he was pressured to admit that he damaged the phone.
Saturday PUNCH could not independently verify those allegations.
From police cell to prison
On September 10, the family said Al-Amin was taken to court in the Mapo area of Ibadan.
His mother claimed nobody informed the family beforehand.
They only learnt that he had been taken to court after receiving a telephone call.
At the court, the family encountered a lawyer identified as Boluwatife, who, according to Simiat, offered to represent Al-Amin free of charge after hearing about the case.
The court granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
But freedom did not come immediately.
Pending the perfection of his bail conditions, Al-Amin was taken to the Agodi Custodial Centre.
For four days, his parents worked to secure his release.
Eventually, Simiat and Habeeb stood as sureties, and their son walked out of custody on September 14.
Police deny charging Oyo student over ₦8,000
Meanwhile, Oyo State Police Command has disputed the account surrounding the arrest and prosecution of a student, Al-Amin Mohammed, who later died by suicide, saying he was not arrested or charged to court over an outstanding ₦8,000 debt.
The Command said Mohammed was charged with assault and malicious damage after allegedly assaulting a female Point-of-Sale operator and damaging her Airtel SIM registration machine valued at ₦177,000.
The police position differs from the account given by Mohammed’s family, which said he was arrested and taken to court following a dispute over an ₦8,000 debt owed to the POS operator.
In a statement on Saturday, the Command described a publication alleging that Mohammed was detained over the debt as “false, unfounded and misleading.”
“The Command wishes to categorically state that the narrative is false, unfounded and misleading, as it does not represent the circumstances of the case or the basis upon which the suspect was charged to court,” the statement said.
According to the police, investigation established that Mohammed approached the POS operator to collect ₦23,000 in cash, with the intention of transferring the same amount to her through a POS transaction.
“The complainant obliged and handed the suspect the said sum in cash. However, immediately after collecting the money, the suspect left the scene without effecting the intended transfer or returning the money.
“Following persistent efforts, the suspect eventually refunded ₦15,000, leaving an outstanding balance of ₦8,000, which he subsequently refused to pay. Consequently, the complainant took possession of the suspect’s mobile phone pending the refund of the outstanding ₦8,000,” the Command said. (PUNCH)
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has been hospitalised after sustaining injuries during an incident involving some individuals at a restaurant in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The Ekiti State Police Command confirmed the incident on Friday, saying Sowore was receiving treatment at the Police Hospital in Ado-Ekiti. However, the activist and his associates have disputed the police account, insisting that they were attacked rather than involved in an altercation.
The incident followed a message posted on Sowore’s X handle alleging that he had been kidnapped by armed thugs in Ado-Ekiti and that his whereabouts were unknown.
The post also alleged that the attackers were government-sponsored and accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of providing them with the group’s location. The allegations have not been independently verified.
“We have been brutally attacked and injured by armed government-sponsored thugs in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State,” the post stated, adding that the group would not back down.
However, the police dismissed reports that Sowore had been kidnapped, explaining that officers received an alert about an incident involving him and some individuals at a restaurant and moved in to intervene.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Ekiti State, Sunday Abutu, said preliminary information indicated that Sowore had an altercation with the individuals before the police were alerted.
According to Abutu, Sowore was subsequently taken to the Police Hospital, where he was receiving treatment for what the command described as a minor injury.
“The command wishes to categorically clarify that Mr Omoyele Sowore was not kidnapped. Rather, preliminary information indicates that he had an altercation with some individuals at a restaurant in Ado Ekiti, following which the police were immediately alerted,” Abutu said.
The police spokesperson added that the Commissioner of Police, Michael Falade, had ordered a discreet investigation into the incident.
“The Commissioner of Police, Michael Falade, has ordered a discreet investigation into the incident to establish the full circumstances surrounding the altercation, identify all individuals involved and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice,” he stated.
However, Sowore subsequently challenged the police description of the incident, rejecting the suggestion that it was an altercation.
In a post on his X handle on Friday, the AAC presidential candidate insisted that he and his associates were attacked.
“There was no altercation! We were attacked!” he declared.
Sowore also accused the police command of downplaying the seriousness of the incident, alleging that the commissioner visited the scene and saw the injuries sustained by those involved.
He questioned why the command would describe the injuries as minor despite what he characterised as the severity of the violence.
Sowore further alleged that suggestions had emerged linking the police commissioner to the incident, describing the development as unacceptable. However, the allegation has not been independently established.
He also shared a video purportedly showing the commissioner leaving an emergency room after observing the injuries sustained by those affected.
The police have yet to establish publicly the full circumstances surrounding the incident, while Sowore’s account differs from the command’s preliminary description of what happened.
The investigation ordered by the commissioner is expected to determine the circumstances leading to the confrontation, identify those involved and establish whether any offences were committed.
As of Friday, the police maintained that Sowore was not kidnapped and was receiving medical treatment, while the AAC presidential candidate continued to insist that he and his associates were victims of a violent attack.
The circumstances surrounding the incident, including the identities of those involved and the allegations of political involvement, remain subject to investigation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has blamed some of its registration officers for irregularities involving photographs suspected to have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in the commission’s preliminary register of voters.
Dr Lawrence Bayode, INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), disclosed this during an appearance on Arise TV, explaining that some registration officers allegedly used their login credentials to introduce questionable records into the voter database.
The development follows public concerns over the credibility of the voter registration process after INEC published its preliminary register on October 26, with suspicious photographs and other irregularities reportedly identified in some entries.
Among the disputed records were entries linked to a polling unit in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, where some photographs appeared to have been generated using AI.
The discovery triggered widespread reactions on social media, with questions raised about how the questionable images and other irregularities passed through the commission’s registration system.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding the entries, Bayode said registration officers deployed across the country had login credentials that allowed them to access the system and register voters.
He said the commission’s findings indicated that some officers across different states had introduced irregularities into the database, stressing that the problem did not involve all registration officers.
“We have registration officers on the field. And these registration officers, they have login details to log into the system.
“So what we have found is that some of these registration officers, not all of them now, some of them across the states nationwide, they’ve done different things to bring these irregularities onto the register,” Bayode said.
The ICT director explained that not all the questionable photographs were AI-generated, as some of the irregularities resulted from what he described as poor registration practices.
“Some of these pictures are AI-generated. Some of them not AI-generated, but very bad registration. And this thing got into the register by the registration officers and because they have access to register people,” he said.
Bayode said INEC identified the questionable entries through its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which the commission used to examine the registration database.
According to him, the system enabled the commission to identify problematic records and establish how some of the irregularities occurred, although he said he could not determine the reasons behind the actions of the officers allegedly involved.
“When the ABIS was run on the system, we saw these people. We know what they did. We know how they did it. But honestly, I don’t know why,” he added.
The disclosure has raised fresh questions about compliance with voter registration procedures and the effectiveness of safeguards designed to prevent unauthorised or improper entries from entering the voter database.
However, Bayode’s explanation did not establish the motives behind the alleged actions or clarify whether all the questionable records had been conclusively resolved.
He said INEC had been working to clean up the register before publishing the preliminary version, noting that the exercise was being conducted within the statutory 90-day period.
The publication of the preliminary register on October 26 brought the disputed entries into public view, prompting renewed scrutiny of the commission’s procedures for collecting, verifying and maintaining voters’ information.
A man reportedly from Uburu in Ebonyi State has been arrested in Ikpeze, Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State, over the alleged rape and killing of a young girl from the Onuoha family.
According to reports, the suspect allegedly raped the girl before killing her and dumping her body in a nearby bush.
The incident has sparked concern among residents, with many calling for a thorough investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the young girl’s death and ensure that justice is served.
The identity of the suspect and other details surrounding the incident have yet to be fully disclosed.
As of the time of filing this report, the Imo State Police Command had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
Further details are expected as investigations progress.
UPDATE: Young Woman Umuora Mmesoma, Reportedly Killed by Ex-Boyfriend in Anambra, Buried
Meanwhile, Umuora Mmesoma, a young woman reportedly killed by her former boyfriend in Uga, Anambra State, has been laid to rest.
Mmesoma was reportedly declared missing on Friday, October 16, 2026, before her body was later discovered.
According to accounts circulating on social media, her former boyfriend, identified as Chima, allegedly killed her following the end of their relationship.
The suspect reportedly confessed to the crime, claiming that he killed Mmesoma in his house, placed her body inside a bag and dumped it at another location.
Her burial has left family members, friends and loved ones mourning the tragic loss of a young life.
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