By: Sonaike Peter 

The Defense Commissioner of the Great Independence Hall of Residence, Onasanwo Adetomiwa, fined some student residents of the hall and received payments into his personal bank account, IndyPress has learned.

The Defence Commissioner, Adetomiwa, imposed a #1000 fine on each affected student for failure to secure their gadgets, particularly by not locking their doors during a midnight patrol on Saturday, October 11, 2025, IndyPress gathered

How It Happened

In the early hours of Saturday, October 11, 2025, some student residents of Indy Hall realized that their gadgets, including phones and power banks, had gone missing.

That same night, some of the affected residents, as observed by IndyPress, alerted the hall’s Secretary of State, Abiola Olaniyi, who contacted the Defense Commissioner, Onasanwo Adetomiwa. Olaniyi Abiola later confirmed that Adetomiwa Onasanwo, the Defence Commissioner, admitted to being in possession of the seized gadgets.

The next morning, some of the affected residents gathered at the Junior Common Room, where they were impelled to pay a ₦1,000 fine in order to retrieve their items. While some residents made the fine payment, others had yet to pay theirs as of the time of filing this report.

IndyPress gathered that the payments were transferred directly into the Defense Commissioner’s personal account, a violation of Article III(5) of the Indy Hall Constitution, which states that The Finance Commissioner “shall be responsible for the collection of funds on behalf of the Hall and shall be liable for such money collected.”

Reactions From Affected Students

Speaking to IndyPress, an affected student resident of the hall who requested to be anonymous due to the fear of reprimand, expressed concern about the method employed by the Defense Commissioner to enforce such discipline, while commending the Defense Committee of the hall for its security efforts.

“My comment remains that they are doing a good work but taking money from students as punishment is very wrong. They’re meant to correct, not to judge in the sense that sometimes, people might be tired and as a result sleep off. They should as well be careful less one day they’ll be dealt with like a thief,” he said.

Another student, who had not yet paid the imposed fine as of interview time, recounted the patrol.

“From what my roommate was saying yesterday, he said the moment they came; they came in without knocking the door. There was another guy in A57 who said they were kind of freaking inside to take phones; not like they knock before entering,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned, my phone and my laptop were beside me. They just picked my phone and left. And they were telling me that I should come and pay ₦1,000 fine. My roommate said he was asleep around 2AM, so it was around 3AM  that they raided. Then, they picked my phone and that of my other roommates and left. I have not paid but some other people have paid, so those of us that have not paid were given 72 hours deadline,” he added

“We Are Using the Money for Some Projects”- Onasanwo Adetomiwa, Indy Hall Defense Commissioner

In an interview with IndyPress, the Defense Commissioner of Indy Hall, Onasanwo Adetomiwa, stated that the funds collected from the fines are being used for hall-related projects.

“The reason we fine is to do some projects. We have noticed that whenever we are patrolling, most of the rooms do not have locks. So, we are nailing the floors with the money. We made sure that as soon as we gave everybody their phone, we went to buy packs of nails. We are nailing all the floors that do not have locks,” Adetomiwa told IndyPress.

He further claimed that the practice of collecting fines is a tradition he inherited.

He added, “That was how I met it as the Defence Commissioner. Though we fined them ₦1,000 per room not per gadget because we knew the state of the economy, some people have not even paid.They were telling us that they were coming. More so, I don’t really know the amount of money we have raised.”

Contrary to his claim of charging per room, IndyPress gathered that some residents were fined individually.

When reached by IndyPress to state the Council’s position on the fine and the use of a personal account for collections, the Deputy Speaker of the Great Independence Hall Legislative Council, Hon. Abdulhakeem Abdurrahman, declined comment.

Similarly, the Clerk of the Council, Hon. Matthew Ugochukwu, told IndyPress he was not aware of the incident, stating that he would get back to the Press.

Restless efforts by IndyPress to obtain comments from the Speaker of the 14th Assembly, Hon. Gbadebo David, were unsuccessful, as of press time.

With the Defense Commissioner fining the student residents and receiving funds into his personal bank account, it raises concerns about a breach of Article III(5) of the Indy Hall Constitution, which states that the Finance Commissioner of the hall shall be responsible for the collection of funds on behalf of the hall.