The Nasarawa State Police Command has refuted circulating reports claiming that more than 30 female students from the Federal University, Lafia, were raped during a recent bandit invasion.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Ramhan Nansel, dismissed the allegations as baseless. He noted that a thorough investigation had been conducted and found no evidence to corroborate the claims.
Authorities urged the public to refrain from spreading unverified information that could incite fear or undermine ongoing security efforts in the region.
“That report is false. Bandits entered into the school and raped over 30 female students? Our findings show that the report is not true,” Nansel said.
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He explained that the police had reached out to the university’s Chief Security Officer, information officer, and some students, none of whom confirmed the alleged incident.
“We also got across to the Chief Security Officer of the institution, and the information officer of the school, they said there was no reported incident of such. We spoke with some students they said nothing of such happened. If it truly happened, the students would be vocal about it,” he said.
Nansel acknowledged that there was indeed a robbery incident on July 27 in the student village area, but stressed that no cases of sexual assault were reported.
He clarified that on July 27, the school had received a report of a robbery in the student village area, during which a phone, power bank, and handbag belonging to a student named Jennifer were stolen. He added that a male student sustained injuries while attempting to flee the scene.
He emphasized that there had been no report of rape in the incident, dismissing widely circulated claims that over 30 female students had been assaulted. “Haba!” he was quoted as saying, insisting that if such a grievous crime had occurred, there would be no reason to conceal it, as the institution was not to blame.