It appears that the police will need the wisdom of Solomon to crack the case of the four Nigerian university students lynched early Friday by their host community for allegedly stealing telephone handsets and laptops.

This is because at least three different theories are now making the rounds regarding why Chiadikobi Biringa and Tekena Elkanah were extra-judicially killed alongside their friends Ugonna and Ilyod (surnames yet to be confirmed) by Allu community of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in Nigeria’s South-South.

Contrary to the earlier claim of stealing handsets and laptops, another version being peddled by some people who claimed to be eyewitnesses is that the wasted youths, who were in their early 20s, were cultists who were nabbed by the community’s vigilante group while on a robbery mission with deadly weapons.

“The students involved were cultists, 5 in number,” claimed one alleged eyewitness ina social media posting. “They went to Attack someone, and on their way out, a girl saw them and screamed. This alerted people and they attacked the students. One of them escaped and the remaining 4 were caught.”

However, another purported eyewitness told a different story to a friend, who tweeting as Peniel (@Penny_sugababe) said:

“For people who need the real gist of what happened in UNIPORT, my friend was an eyewitness, nd she even has a part of the video on her fone. The people in Aluu community complained dey had been terrorized my robbers lately and it was almost a routine so dey set up a vigilante grp.

“At about 5am this morning, they got word dat dey were some robbers in d area and they made sure all the exits were blocked while dey waited. They were caught and dragged to d community head who told dem to confess and dey gave 3 different stories that didn’t even match. They were actually 5, one of them escaped! Dey got info about someone that had some money, it wasn’t laptops and phones please.

“Ugonna’s (the cutest) sister said she actually gave him money yesterday to go back home. PS: he’s an only son with 4 sisters.

“Anyways, people actually begged for their lives, but the community boys were bent on dealing with dem! These boys had machetes and axes sef. The community boys started beating then with dia own machetes and other weapons, until dey gave up! Police came afterwards for the bodies.

“Llyod (one of the criminals) father works with Radio rivers and even announced on air today that his son is ‘no thief” ...”

As was reported yesterday by several media including News Express, the four unfortunate University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) students were forcibly seized by a mob at Allu, an off campus suburb where they lived, paraded naked, mercilessly beaten to death despite passionate pleas for mercy. They had their necks bedecked with used tyres but the police, which is now investigating the murder, apparently arrived before they could be set ablaze.

*Photo courtesy SUNDAY PUNCH.