Cybercrime: 12 Nigerian students to face trial in Benin Republic

Seven out of the 12 students have reportedly been released on bail while negotiations are ongoing to secure the release of others.

12 Nigerian students who were arrested by the Police in Benin Republic are to face trial for cybercrime, Punch reports.

According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, seven out of the 12 students have been released on bail.

The students' name Mathew Langgapp, Bayo Oyenuga, Tari Bori, Samuel Akinwande, Dunchi Dennis, Steven Porobunu, Chuckwudi Valentine, Peter Ochani, David Esu, Emmanuel Chukwuneke, Timi Ogunleye and Jacob Oluwatobi.

Dabiri-Erewa said the resolve to try the students was contained in a brief sent by the Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Amb. Kayode Oguntuase.

 

The brief states that students were placed on surveillance and they were allegedly caught perpetrating crime.

However, Dabiri-Erewa in a statement released on Sunday, July 15, 2018, by her media aide, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said that the Beninoise Police arrested the students without informing the Nigerian Embassy in the country.

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She added that the arrest of the students was contrary to the claims that over 50 Nigerian students are in prison in Benin Republic.

The SSA also said that after series of negotiations and entreaties, the Nigerian consular in Benin Republic was able to secure the release of seven students from  Aglaganda Police Station on July 5, 2018, adding that efforts were ongoing to ensure the remaining five students are released.

She, therefore, appealed to Nigerians in diaspora to ''avoid crime and criminality and shun any act capable of tarnishing the good image of Nigeria,”

 

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