They were all lynched after being accused of theft in Aluu, a community in Ikwerre local government area, Rivers State, Nigeria, on 5 October 2012.
[1][2] Chiadika Biringa, Lloyd Toku Mike, Tekena Elkanah and Ugonna Obuzor were all friends, first sons of their parents, and students of University of Port Harcourt.
In the presence of a crowd of Nigerian police officers and other citizens, they were dragged through mud, had concrete slabs dropped on their heads and car tires filled with petrol wrapped around their necks ("necklacing") in order to set them ablaze.
[1][6] The 3–5-minute video showing them "necklaced" on the ground, beaten multiple times and finally set on fire, went viral with most viewers condemning the crime[citation needed].
[citation needed] On July 31, 2017, Rivers State High Court sentenced police sergeant Lucky Orji, David Chinasa Ogbada and Ikechukwu Louis Amadi (aka Kapoon) to death for their involvement in the murders of the four students.
[10][11] The court also acquitted four of the suspects in the trial, Saviour Johnny, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe and Cyril Abang.
A fictionalized version of the lynching was the basis of the plot in the 2021 novel Lightseekers by Femi Kayode, in which three young students are brutally murdered in a Nigerian university town.