Members of family of a final year student of Accounting at the Osun State University, Okuku campus, Yemi Olaniyan, have been thrown into confusion over his whereabouts.
He allegedly passed the night of February 28th at Ojodu Police Station after telling Oyin that he was stranded and would retire to the police station.
But the Lagos State Police Command said the division had no record that Yemi visited the station or was detained there.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the Osogbo, Osun State resident had travelled to Lagos for the first time that day to submit some documents at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria office in Yaba, for his industrial training.
His mother, Folashade Olaniyan, told our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday that when she could not reach him, Oyin told her the following day that she spoke to him around 7.30pm on the telephone.
She said, “He came to submit some forms for his IT at the ICAN office in Lagos. One of his colleagues in school said he called her around 7.30pm. He told her that he had submitted the documents, but it was late. He said he would be passing the night at the Ojodu Police Station.
“That was the last we heard from him. We have been calling him since then, but his line has not been reachable. Our family members went to the police station, but the police denied that he came to the station.”
One of Yemi’s relatives, who gave his name only as Adeniyi, said he believed Yemi would not have lied that he was at the station, adding that something was fishy.
He said, “He is a final year student of Accounting at the Osun State University. He left the campus for Lagos to submit some forms for his IT on February 28 at the ICAN office in Yaba. He also went with the documents of some of his colleagues for submission. After he submitted the documents, he discovered it was late.
“He went to the police station to sleep over because he was a stranger in Lagos. That was his first visit to Lagos. He explained his situation to the police and they requested his identity card. He called one of his colleagues, Oyin, who also gave him her documents for submission, that he would be sleeping at the Ojodu Police Station and that he would return to school the following day.
“I know Yemi very well. There was no reason for him to lie if he was not at, the police station. We want the relevant authorities to unravel the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.”
Efforts to reach Oyin on the telephone proved abortive.
But the Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, SP Chike Oti, in a statement on Wednesday, said there was nothing to show that Yemi visited the station.
He said, “The attention of the command has been drawn to a post on the Internet purporting that one Yemi Olaniyan, a final year student of Accounting at the Osun State University, Okuku campus, who came to Lagos to submit documents for his IT at an ICAN office in Lagos and thereafter slept at the Ojodu Police Station, is missing. It was also mentioned in the post that Mr. Yemi Olaniyan’s trip to Lagos was his first to the city.
“The Lagos State Police Command hereby states categorically that Yemi Olaniyan was never a guest at the Ojodu Police Station as alleged. There is no record to show that he was at any police station in Lagos, either as a visitor or a detainee. Besides, no police station in Lagos operates as a guest house. It is not allowed.”
The PPRO urged Yemi’s family to report a case of missing person to the police for the matter to be thoroughly investigated, adding that no ICAN office was close to the Ojodu Police Station.
