THE Lagos State Police command has taken into custody Ayomide Adeleye, the suspected killer of Christianah Idowu, a student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
Adeleye, a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), was taken into custody, on Thursday, September 5, after the tragic incident, which has sparked widespread outrage on social media.
The Lagos police spokesman, Ben Hundeyin, in a post on his X handle, assured the public that investigations were ongoing.
“23-year-old Ayomide Adeleye has been handed over to @LagosPoliceNG by 9 Brigade @HQNigerianArmy. The handover took place today, September 5, 2024, at about 1400hrs.
“Investigation is ongoing,” he wrote.
Idowu, who was friends with Adeleye, reportedly sought shelter in his family’s shop during rainfall before she was lured into his house, where he allegedly attempted to take advantage of her.
The suspect allegedly killed Idowu after resisting his rape attempt, and would later burry her in a shallow grave in his compound in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
Following the murder, Adeleye used Christianah’s phone to send a request for ransom to her mother to demand N3 million in exchange for her release.
The ICIR reported that Idowu had been missing for several days before her death was confirmed by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), following Adeleye’s confession to the 174 Battalion of the Nigerian Army.
Insiders privy to the military’s operations told FIJ that troops of the Nigerian Army tracked Idowu’s phone to Adeleye’s residence in the Ikorodu area of Lagos state.
Before he would later confess to the offence of killing her, he initially denied knowledge of her abduction and claimed to be in possession of her phone because he was a phone repairer.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M