Oyo Police: Student Who Died by Suicide Was Charged With Assault, Not ₦8,000 Debt

Oyo Police: Student Who Died by Suicide Was Charged With Assault, Not ₦8,000 Debt

The Oyo State Police Command has denied that it arrested and prosecuted 30-year-old student Al-Amin Mohammed over an outstanding ₦8,000 debt, saying he was instead charged with assault and malicious damage following a dispute with a female Point-of-Sale (POS) operator.

The clarification followed reports about Mohammed’s detention and subsequent death by suicide three days after his release from the Agodi Correctional Centre, Ibadan.

Mohammed died on September 17, 2026, three days after he was released from custody. His family had alleged that he was arrested and taken to court following a dispute over an ₦8,000 balance owed to a POS operator and that the experience left him distressed.

However, the police described the claim that Mohammed was arrested and charged because of the ₦8,000 debt as false, unfounded and misleading.

According to the Command, Mohammed initially approached the POS operator to collect ₦23,000 in cash, with the understanding that he would transfer the same amount to her through a POS transaction.

The police said the operator handed him the money, but he allegedly left without completing the transfer or returning the cash.

After efforts to recover the money, Mohammed reportedly returned ₦15,000, leaving an outstanding balance of ₦8,000.

The police said the POS operator subsequently took possession of Mohammed’s mobile phone pending repayment of the balance.

The dispute later escalated, according to the Command, when Mohammed allegedly went to the complainant’s residence at about 10pm on September 8, 2026.

The police alleged that he assaulted the woman and, during the confrontation, damaged her Airtel SIM registration machine, which was valued at ₦177,000.

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Members of the community reportedly intervened in an attempt to settle the dispute, but the effort failed. Mohammed was subsequently handed over to vigilantes, who brought him and the complainant to the police station.

The Command said officers heard both sides and made a further attempt to resolve the matter amicably, but the complainant insisted on pursuing the case in court.

The police therefore said Mohammed was charged with assault and malicious damage, rather than with owing the ₦8,000.

The Command also clarified that the student’s continued detention at the correctional centre was not a decision by the police to hold him over the debt.

According to the police, Mohammed was granted bail after his arraignment but remained at the Agodi Correctional Centre because he could not immediately meet the conditions imposed by the court. He was released after the bail conditions were eventually fulfilled.

Mohammed’s family, however, has given a different account of the events.

His mother, Simiat Mohammed, said her son had borrowed ₦23,000 from the POS operator and repaid ₦15,000, leaving the ₦8,000 balance.

She said the operator seized his mobile phone over the outstanding amount and that Mohammed later returned to retrieve it.

The family disputed the police account that he assaulted the woman and damaged her equipment, maintaining that the confrontation occurred in the course of the dispute over his phone.

The family said Mohammed was subsequently detained and taken to court before being remanded at the correctional centre. His parents later stood as sureties to secure his release.

According to his mother, Mohammed’s condition changed significantly after he returned home on September 14.

She said he became withdrawn, ate little and repeatedly complained about the humiliation he believed he had suffered after being arrested, taken to court and remanded.

Three days after his release, Mohammed reportedly ingested a poisonous substance and later died.

His family has called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his arrest, detention, court proceedings and death.

The police, however, cautioned against drawing a direct causal link between the criminal case and Mohammed’s death without verified evidence.

The Command said the circumstances surrounding his death should be established through an appropriate investigation rather than through what it described as an inaccurate or incomplete account.

The case has therefore left competing accounts of how the dispute escalated from an ₦8,000 outstanding balance into a police case.

While the family links Mohammed’s ordeal to the debt dispute, the police maintain that the criminal proceedings were based on allegations of assault and damage to a ₦177,000 SIM registration machine.

The available accounts establish that the ₦8,000 was connected to the original financial transaction, but they differ over the circumstances that followed, including the alleged assault, property damage and the events leading to Mohammed’s detention.

The circumstances surrounding Mohammed’s death and whether any direct connection exists between the events remain matters for further investigation.

Oyo Police: Student Who Died by Suicide Was Charged With Assault, Not ₦8,000 Debt