Police nab 3 UniAbuja students for mate’s death in hotel pool

The FCT Police command has arrested three students of the University of Abuja over the death of their school mate, Emmanuel Balogun, who drowned in an Abuja hotel swimming pool.

17-year-old Balogun was said to have gone to The Dome along with friends over the weekend, where they allegedly left him to drown in the pool and abandoned him afterwards.

According to CCTV footage obtained by the police, the suspects took the deceased’s phones, shoes, and money and returned to school without reporting the incident.

The deceased’s family was said to have been notified by a friend the following day.

Account by a family friend of the deceased has it that Balogun’s parents drove that Monday night to their son’s hostel but did not see him.

However, it was later they got information that a party was hosted for fresh year students at the hotel and had to visit the hotel where confirmed that there had been a case of drowning over the weekend.

According to her, “Later, the deceased’s uncle and I went to the police to see the CCTV footage of what transpired at the hotel. What I saw and later heard was unbelievable.

“From the CCTV, we noticed the deceased entered the pool with three of his friends and around 3.33am he started struggling in the pool. His friends were all watching him until he stopped struggling and drowned.

“They all left the pool immediately and one took his handset; the other took his trousers and brought out the money inside the pocket and wore his shoes. They left the hotel around 4.18am according to the footage we saw.”

The three friends were subsequently arrested alongside some hotel staff, even as one of the friends was said to have admitted that he could have rescued the deceased but the others stopped.

The undergraduate has reportedly been buried on instructions of his parents.

Deputy Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for  the FCT command, Danjuma Gejere, said investigations were on-going and suspects would be arraigned in court next week.

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