Okoli Ahinze, accused of stealing a phone, said to be victim of university’s ‘SMS punishment’ carried out among students
More than 15 students at one of Nigeria’s top universitiesOkoli Ahinze, a final-year civil engineering student at Obafemi Awolowo University, was found dead on 11 April.
SMS, which appears to be unique to the university in the ancient city of Ile-Ife in Osun state, is carried out against students judged to have committed a crime on campus. Victims are usually beaten and publicly paraded around campus buildings and accommodation blocks.by students.John Akintunde, the general secretary of the technology and engineering students’ association, has written to the university’s dean of student affairs, demanding action to stop SMS on campus.