On Saturday, October 25, 2025, at around 11 PM, some student residents of Saint Annes Church Female Hostel, University of Ibadan, raised an alarm about an alleged attempted robbery at the hostel.

The residents took to WhatsApp, calling for help from the student community, which quickly attracted public attention.

They wrote, “Please call for help for us in Saint Anne’s… There are thieves trying to break in. Please help us ooo. Help us to call every help possible, please.”

Following the public call for help, the Odedele Covenant-led Students’ Executive Committee visited the hostel and confirmed to the student community through a 27-second video that no robbery had occurred at the hostel.

“Everything is calm and in order at Saint Annes. There has been no case of robbery or any related incident. The Student Union can confirm this firsthand. Kindly disregard any false or exaggerated reports,” the Union wrote.

Facts to Know

The alleged attempted robbery initially raised by the student resident never occurred.

A 46-seconds video footage obtained by the Press revealed a sparking light at the hostel gate, which the student residents mistook for signs of an attempted robbery, leading to a public cry for help.

In an interview with the Press on Sunday, October 26, 2025, the security personnel of Saint Annes Church Female Hostel explained that the residents misunderstood the situation.

“What really happened yesterday was a misunderstanding. I was at the back gate, there was a partial contact. So, the students close to that place thought that it was arm robbers that came to break the key to gain access to the hostel. They did not really understand what happened. Instead of them coming to the security directly to confirm what was going on, they called the portal, so before the portal came around to call the security, they had posted it on social media, and called the Students’ Union,” he said.

“So, before they realised what was going on, the news had spread. If they had known it was not robbery they would not have called anybody. Even the UI security, Abefele, came around. It was the key at the gate; there was a security light on that gate, so the key and the wire had partial contact, it was then sparking,”he added.

Also speaking to the Press, a resident of the hostel explained that she noticed the sparking sound stopped and the light went off immediately after the University of Ibadan Campus Security Service arrived.

“The thing stopped, and the light went off when Abefele came,” she said.

Conclusion

There was no case of robbery at Saint Annes Church Female Hostel on Saturday, October 25, 2025.

Video evidence and clarification from the hostel’s security personnel confirmed that the residents had mistaken the sparking of a light at the gate for an attempted robbery.

The Press can confirm, as of investigation time, that the hostel remained calm and peaceful.

This report was jointly produced by IndyPress and PANS Press, University of Ibadan.