OAU seeks police help to find missing female student

Sunday, August 10, 2025 - The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, has called on the Osun State Police Command to assist in locating a female student who has been missing for four days.

In a statement issued by the University’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju on Sunday, the missing student was identified as Dorcas Oseghale, from the Department of Chemistry, with matriculation number CHM/2021/165.

The institution reported that Oseghale was last seen on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at about 8:00 p.m.

According to the statement, “Dorcas, a resident of Adesanmi House, Ibadan Road, Ile-Ife, had told her roommate she was going to buy food in front of the Students’ Village along Ede Road but did not return.

“Her roommate later tried to reach her on the phone, only to discover that both of her lines were unreachable.”

Olarewaju said that “at about 3:00 p.m. on 7 August 2025, the University Security Unit intercepted a report of a missing student on a students’ social media platform and began tracking conversations related to the matter.

“By 6:10 p.m. the same day, a group of Chemistry students, together with Dorcas’s roommate, Akinkuade Omobolanle Beatrice from the Department of Agricultural Extension, formally reported the matter at the University’s Security Unit.”

Due to what the University described as limitations in human and material resources, three security personnel were assigned to work with the students and relay preliminary findings to the Nigeria Police for further investigation.

“The Nigerian Police have enough manpower with sound professional and technical expertise to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the student,” Olarewaju noted in the statement.

He added that the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire commended the students for promptly reporting the incident.

He said, “their vigilance showed they were their brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. He urged security agencies to do all they could to find Dorcas.”

Bamire appealed to anyone with useful information on the student’s whereabouts to contact the nearest police station or the University Security Unit immediately.

The University spokesperson also assured that it will continue to work closely with the police and other security agencies until the matter is resolved.