A wave of outrage swept through the nation in 2021 after Timothy Adegoke, an MBA student at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), was found dead days after he was declared missing.

Adegoke had travelled to Ile-Ife on November 5 for an examination at the school’s distance learning centre in Moro, but when he became unreachable and did not turn up at the exam venue, he was declared missing on November 7.

That same November, his body was found in a shallow grave at a location close to Hilton Hotel and Resorts, where he had lodged. The police would later arrest the owner of the hotel, alongside other suspects, in connection with Adegoke’s death.

Between that time and now, several other students earlier declared missing were found dead and buried in shallow graves across the country, the recent being Quadri Salami, an 18-year-old OAU first year student.

READ ALSO: Offa Poly Student Found Dead in Her Apartment

OAU STUDENT: DECEMBER 2023

Salami’s decomposing body parts were found in a shallow grave in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday.

According to a police statement, Salami’s father reported his disappearance to police on November 14. He had seen him last on November 8.

The police arrested one Akeem Usman in possession of the victim’s phone and subsequently exhumed Salami’s body from a grave yesterday. Usman also fingered one Ifadowo Niyi, revealing that both of them slaughtered the victim and dismembered his vital parts for ritual purposes.

OGUN POLICE COMMAND PRESS RELEASE. 06/12/2023.
POLICE EXHUME DECOMPOSING BODY PARTS AND ARREST OF SUSPECTED RITUAL SYNDICATES
The Ogun State Police Command has unraveled the disappearance of one Quadri Salami "m" 18 year old a 100 level student of Obafemi Awolowo University, pic.twitter.com/oRkuapNewN

— Ogun State Police Command (@OgunPoliceNG) December 6, 2023

FUOYE STUDENT: SEPTEMBER 2023

Students of Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) were thrown into panic after Deborah Atanda, a 200-level nursing student, was found dead and buried on the school premises.

The corpse of Atanda, who was reported missing on September 4, was found two days later, where it was buried behind her faculty’s building.

The police said at least 10 suspects were arrested  in connection to her death.

READ ALSO: FUOYE Students Panic After Discovering Buried Body of Missing Nursing Student

BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY: FEBRUARY 2023

Erekaa Dooshima Naomi, a 300-level student at the Benue State University (BSU), was equally found dead and buried in a shallow grave near the school.

Local reports state that Naomi was missing for three days before her body was found on February 22 outside the BSU’s campus.

The police also said they later arrested one Shagbaor Ugosor Japhet, the deceased student’s suspected killer.

DELAYED JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

Meanwhile, except Adegoke, whose killer was just sentenced to death by hanging in May 2023, justice seems elusive for most of the other victims due to prolonged prosecution of arrested suspects.

Delayed justice is not a new concept in Nigeria. In fact, it takes a foremost position among the myriad of challenges bedevilling the Nigerian justice system.

In a 2018 news report by The PUNCH, Fidelis Oditah, SAN, and the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, attributed the delayed justice to the poor attitudes of stakeholders in the justice sector, including lawyers, judges and administrative officials of the courts. They made this remark during their separate speeches at the inaugural lecture of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) that year.

Abimbola Abatta is a reporter with FIJ writing reports in partnership with Report for the World which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.