Nigeria: Police Hunt Truck Crew Over Death of Kwara Polytechnic Student

What the report says

Police in Kwara State, north-central Nigeria, are searching for the driver and motor boy of a Conoil truck in connection with the death of a student of Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin, according to Premium Times, via AllAfrica. The case centers on a student identified as Shehu, whose body was reportedly found after a family search that began when he failed to return home from an errand on a borrowed motorcycle.

Premium Times reported that the student’s body was first treated as that of an unidentified person and buried before being exhumed after relatives were shown a photograph and confirmed his identity. The police commissioner in Kwara, Adekimi Ojo, said officers were trying to arrest the truck crew and that the remains had been discovered on a bridge in Oko-Olowo after earlier being recovered in the Ilorin area.

The family said a tricycle operator named Basit, who allegedly witnessed the incident, took the body to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, where Shehu was pronounced dead, before handing it to the truck crew while claiming to be a relative. Police have arrested Basit, who reportedly admitted transferring the body but said he did not know what happened next. The family wants authorities to determine how the student died, why the body changed hands, and whether there was any improper motive.

Beyond the immediate case, the report highlights concerns about how road accidents, emergency response, and handling of unidentified bodies are managed. The investigation is ongoing, and police say they are still trying to locate the truck driver and motor boy.