It has been over two months and fifteen days since the mysterious disappearance of Dorcas Oseghale, a 300-level Chemistry student in the Faculty of Science at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
On that fateful evening, Dorcas left her residence at Adesanmi, along Ibadan Road, to buy food near the Maintenance Hostel — a popular spot where students gather after classes to relax and eat. What was meant to be a brief walk for dinner has since become a nightmare that grips her family, friends, classmates, and the entire university community.
With each passing day, her sudden disappearance deepens the uncertainty surrounding her whereabouts. The silence grows heavier, questions remain unanswered, and hope slowly gives way to fear. For Dorcas’s loved ones, the wait has become an ache that refuses to fade.
The Beginning of the Mystery
Dorcas’s disappearance first came to light through a post shared on WhatsApp and X [formerly Twitter] by concerned students who declared her missing. According to the message circulated, she left her residence around 8:00 p.m. on August 6, 2025, to buy food at the Maintenance Hostel, but she never returned. Several attempts to reach her through phone calls were unsuccessful, as her phone was switched off, cutting off every line of communication.
In response to this, the Great Ife Students’ Union released an official statement on August 8, 2025, confirming the incident and assuring the student community that it had taken charge of the situation. The Union stated that it was working with the university management, security operatives, and other relevant bodies to locate Dorcas. It also revealed that the case had been transferred to the police headquarters in Osogbo for further investigation.
The university’s spokesperson, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, later confirmed that Dorcas Oseghale, a 300-level Chemistry student with matriculation number CHM/2021/165, was last seen around 8:00 p.m. on August 6. Dorcas, who resided at Adesanmi House along Ibadan Road, was said to have gone to buy food near the Students’ Village along Ede Road but never returned. Her roommate’s repeated attempts to reach her on both of her phone lines were unsuccessful.
According to the PRO, the university’s security unit began monitoring online discussions about Dorcas’s disappearance after the missing person alert went viral around 3:00 p.m. on August 7. By 6:10 p.m. that same day, some Chemistry students, together with her roommate, had formally reported the case to the security unit. Given the limits of its resources, the unit assigned three officers to investigate alongside the students and subsequently handed their findings over to the police for further action.
Additionally, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simeon Bamire, commended students for raising the alarm promptly and called on the police and other security agencies to intensify their search. He also urged anyone with helpful information to contact the OAU security unit or the nearest police station.
However, as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the initial urgency and promises made seemed to have faded. The assurances once given by both the Union and the university management have now grown faint. Months have passed, and no official update regarding the case has been made. For many, it feels as though Dorcas and the questions surrounding her disappearance have been forgotten.
The Move So Far— Great Ife Students’ Union President Speaks
In an interview with the Students’ Union President, Adelani David (Itabi), he stated that the union remains actively engaged. He claimed that the union has been working closely with the police and other security agencies in Osun State and beyond.
He recounted that a particular student from Oduduwa University (OUI), who was suspected of being a friend of the victim, was arrested as a suspect at one point, and the case was later transferred from the Moore Police Division in Ile-Ife to the State CID in Osogbo after sustained pressure from the Union.
‘When we arrived at the State CID, we met with the Commissioner of Police, and Dorcas’s roommate and some of her close friends were also invited for questioning, as they were considered suspects,’ he explained.
Shortly thereafter, he said they began receiving suspicious calls from various individuals demanding ransom for Dorcas’ release. ‘It was then that we discovered it was a kidnapping case,’ the president said. ‘The case was handed over to the anti-kidnapping unit, and we even began sourcing funds to pay the ransom.’
He continued, ‘I can tell you that since the issue occurred, my team and I have hardly had any time to rest. In a week, we visit Osogbo at least two or three times, and most of the time, we return to Ife very late. At one point, we had to accuse the officers of dragging the case and not acting swiftly. There were also occasions when I had to travel from Lagos to Osogbo and back because of this matter. On one occasion, the Commissioner invited me to his office and explained that the situation was more complicated than they initially thought, as it was difficult to trace the kidnappers. We have been making every effort and pushing hard since the issue began, and we are still in contact with the police to ascertain the current state of the investigation.’
However, he noted that all efforts to track Dorcas’ phone and determine who she last spoke to or chatted with have so far led to a dead end, as her phone has remained switched off. He further explained that the police could not access her call records because the SIM card had been removed. ‘All her call logs cannot be accessed by the police because there is no SIM card in her phone, so the call logs don’t go through. We tried very hard to track her phone to know who she spoke to that night, but nothing was found, although they are still pursuing leads,’ he said.
The president explained that Dorcas’ ex-boyfriend and several other ‘supposed’ exes were arrested after her disappearance. However, after a few weeks of investigation, when it became clear they had no link to her case, he said they were released by the police. ‘When we received information that Dorcas had an ex and other ‘supposed’ boyfriends, we arranged for their arrest,’ he said. ‘But after some weeks, when we determined they did not have any connection to her disappearance, they were released. As we know, you cannot detain anyone, especially innocent people, for more than 24 hours; that is wrong.’
He further added that Dorcas’ mother was asked to provide all her SIM cards and phone numbers so they could be tracked. ‘They are still actively tracking those phones,’ he noted, ‘in case any information comes through. If someone mistakenly inserts any of the SIMs into a phone, the person will be traced immediately.’
Speaking about the ransom calls, the president clarified that he was not the one the kidnappers contacted. ‘No, it was not me they were calling; it was her mother they contacted to demand the ransom,’ he said. He explained that the police were able to trace some of the callers and arrest them, but after a thorough investigation, it was discovered that they were merely fraudsters trying to take advantage of the situation to collect money. According to him, some of them were Northerners from Katsina, Yobe, and Damaturu, with no connection to Dorcas’ disappearance.
Responding to claims that the Union has not been updating the university community on the progress of Dorcas’ case, he explained that the Union only provides updates when there is something meaningful to share. ‘As you can see, I, for one, cannot accept that. If I do not have specific things to say, I would rather keep quiet,’ he said. ‘It would be unnecessary to issue statements without any concrete solutions. My team and I are working tirelessly day and night on this matter. Therefore, the fact that we have not made official releases in recent times does not mean we are quiet or unconcerned. As I said, work is ongoing, and we are in close contact with the appropriate authorities to ensure Dorcas is found.’
He further explained that he sees no valid reason for sharing information without any progress. ‘For me, what matters most is sharing valid information and not making excessive releases without any real solution. In fact, releasing too many statements without progress will only cause people to lose interest in our updates. So, our plan regarding this matter is to make a statement that will explain our efforts so far, both during the holiday and now. In doing that, we will also include Dorcas’ case to let the Great Ife students’ community know how far we have come and where we currently stand.’
Meanwhile, he acknowledged the efforts of the university management and their cooperation since the incident occurred, noting that both the university and the Union have visited the police headquarters several times. ‘We (the Students’ Union) have gone to the police station many times. From the information I have, there are occasions when they travel to Osogbo to get updates on the case, and there are also times we went together. So, it’s an issue that concerns both the school and us. It’s a collective matter, and it requires our joint effort to resolve it,’ he concluded.
Following this, the president stated that he had identified the routes the kidnappers typically take. He explained that he discussed this with other executive members during one of their meetings and discovered that the kidnappers often use the roads leading to Ilesha and Ekiti, which have very few checkpoints, whenever they are operating. ‘I travelled to Ekiti last week, and for about two hours on the road, I did not see a single police officer or checkpoint. The only checkpoint I noticed was a military barricade before we reached the Ekiti border,’ he said.
Additionally, he remarked that it would be easy for the kidnappers to move freely along those routes without obstruction. ‘From what I observed, I’m convinced those are the routes they always use during their operations because they allow for easy movement without being checked or stopped,’ he added.
He then recounted a time when some students who escaped from the kidnappers confirmed that they were taken through the same route. ‘The two students who escaped said the kidnappers took them via the Ife–Ilesha road, the same one I mentioned earlier, before God came through for them. When you travel that road, you can hardly find police checkpoints, unlike the Ibadan road, where you will see at least two or three checkpoints,’ he said.
He concluded by stating, ‘Our plan now is to write to the Inspector General of Police and also meet with the Commissioner of Police in Osun State to demand that more police officers be deployed to those locations.’
I am not satisfied with the way the police are handling the case – Dorcas’ mother
Maria Oseghale, the worried mother of 21-year-old Dorcas, spoke with Punch Newspaper about her daughter’s disappearance, the pain it has caused her family, the efforts to find her, and their hope of seeing her again.
Mrs Maria said she first learned that Dorcas was missing when one of her daughter’s friends called to inform her. ‘According to one of her friends, on August 6, 2025, Dorcas went out around a few minutes past 8 p.m. to buy food at a place called Maintenance. Her roommate said she tried calling her around 8:30 p.m. after noticing she had not returned, but Dorcas’ phone was switched off. Her friend also tried reaching her, but the line didn’t connect. It was unusual because Dorcas always took her power bank with her, so her phone rarely went off,’ she explained.
She added that they later reached out to one of their coursemates, Tunmise, and it was through her that the family in Lagos got to know about Dorcas’s disappearance. Tunmise had chatted with Dorcas’s cousin, Mariam, informing her that Dorcas’s phone had been switched off since the previous night.
According to Mrs Maria, Dorcas had sent her a voice note on WhatsApp around 7:00 p.m. that evening, but she did not listen to it until about 11 p.m. When she tried calling back, Dorcas’s phone was already switched off. The next morning, she called again to send her money for transport, as Dorcas was supposed to return home that day.
Following this, Mrs Maria said she tried reaching Dorcas’s roommate, but the person who picked up the call said it was a wrong number. ‘I told the person I was Dorcas’ mum and that I used to speak with my daughter through that number, yet she insisted it was a wrong number. That made me even more anxious,’ she said.
At first, Mrs Maria revealed that she did not know her daughter was missing until her sister-in-law called to ask when she last spoke with her. ‘It was at that point that it occurred to me that something was wrong,’ she said, explaining that she and her daughter often had long WhatsApp conversations daily. ‘I had to travel to Ife, and when I got there, I discovered that Dorcas’s roommate had lost her SIM card and didn’t bother to retrieve it, so another person had bought the line. That was why the person kept insisting it was a wrong number,’ she added.
On her way, while stuck in traffic along the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, Mrs Maria said she called Tunmise to ask whether the case had been reported to the police. ‘She told me the police said they could not do anything until after 24 hours,’ she recounted, adding that by then, she was already deeply worried and unsettled.
When Dorcas’ WhatsApp chat was later accessed with the help of her friends, they discovered a conversation between her and one Ezekiel, whom she had chatted with last. According to Dorcas’s friends, they were able to access her WhatsApp because she had earlier logged in to one of her friends’ phones when her screen got damaged, and that was how they retrieved the chats from her friend Vicky’s phone.
When asked what the conversation contained, Mrs Maria said, ‘From the chats, Dorcas told Ezekiel she was going out to buy food. She mentioned the place, Maintenance. She said she preferred eating Ofada rice to beans, and that message was sent around 7:55 p.m. Ezekiel replied at 7:59 p.m., saying he was also going out to buy okro. It was after that exchange that Dorcas informed her roommate she was stepping out to get food.’
Upon this discovery, the police were informed, and Ezekiel was subsequently identified by the university’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) before being taken to the police station for questioning. ‘I was not there when they got to the station, but when I called again, I was told that Ezekiel was already with the police. I asked if they would search his house, but they said the police didn’t have fuel for their vehicle. I didn’t even know which police station they had gone to, so I tried to find someone to take me there. Two students volunteered to go instead and assured me not to worry. When I offered to send them money, they refused, saying they would handle it,’ she narrated.
According to her, the students later bought fuel for the police vehicle and accompanied them to Ezekiel’s house on August 8. However, they said nothing suspicious was found. ‘Still, I was not comfortable,’ Maria said. ‘In their chats, Ezekiel had told my daughter that he didn’t want his pictures on social media so no one would recognise him. We also saw where he invited her to his house, but she told him she was afraid. He replied, ‘You be Benin girl na. Benin girl no dey fear. Why not do like Benin girl?’
‘From those chats, I honestly don’t know what his real intentions were towards Dorcas,’ she added. They reportedly met the previous Saturday during a modelling event and began chatting the following Tuesday. Dorcas’s friend said she told her about Ezekiel’s advances, and when the friend asked how she responded, Dorcas said she hadn’t given him any answer yet.’
‘On Tuesday, Dorcas went to his house. She was still there on Wednesday, and that was when her WhatsApp suddenly crashed, which was unusual. Most of Dorcas’s calls were through WhatsApp to save costs, and we often spoke for long hours. When I called her on Wednesday morning, I told her to open her WhatsApp so we could talk. Honestly, I was deeply uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially since nothing was found in Ezekiel’s house,’ she explained.
Mrs Maria also said she was not satisfied with how the police handled the case initially because they failed to inform her that they lacked the equipment to track her daughter’s phone and did not refer her early enough to where it could be done. However, Mrs Maria lauded the effort of the police division in Osogbo for trying their best in tracking Dorcas’s phone. ‘They went to Ife and searched all of Dorcas’ belongings to see if they could find clues. They also tracked Ezekiel’s two phone lines, those of all her friends, and two of her bank accounts. After all that, they told me they wanted to listen to some of her phone conversations, she said.
Management’s Response
Meanwhile, when ACJ’s reporter reached out to the university’s Chief Security Officer [CSO] for an update on Dorcas’ case, he dismissively said the matter was already with the police and maintained that the university’s Public Relations Officer [PRO] should be contacted instead, stressing that he had nothing to say on it. The Public Relations Officer was reached out to but as of press time no response was gotten from him.