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Ayomide Adeleye, a 200 Level Philosophy student of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State, confessed on Monday to killing Christianah Idowu, a 300 Level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).
His confession, made to the 174 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, brought an end to the two-week-long search for the girl who went missing on August 19 while on her way from Ita Oluwo to the University of Lagos in Yaba where she was undergoing industrial training.
FIJ first learnt of Adeleye’s arrest on Sunday afternoon when insiders privy to the military’s operations told FIJ how troops tracked Idowu’s phone to Adeleye’s residence in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
The 23-year-old denied knowledge of her abduction and claimed to be in possession of her phone because he was a phone repairer. He said unknown persons gave him the phone to repair and he asked no questions. Less than 24 hours later, he confessed to killing her the same day she went missing.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Idowu and Adeleye knew each other as they both schooled in Ogun State, attended the same church and lived in the same Ita Oluwo community.
“On that Sunday, the girl who normally goes to UNILAG on weekends to return home on Friday left her house as usual,” the insider told FIJ.
“While on her way, it began to rain, so she took cover in Ayomide (Adeleye)’s family’s shop which was just outside his house.
“The boy narrated everything in custody. She only wanted to stay out there for a while and head back to her destination, but he invited her into his house when the rainfall became intense.”
While in his house, Adeleye attempted to take advantage of her but she resisted. He then killed her.
At 8:50 pm on the same day, using Idowu’s phone, he texted her mother via WhatsApp. His text messages read, “Hello Madam, you have such a beautiful daughter. How much are you willing to pay to see her again? We have her in our custody.”
What began as a young lady seeking shelter in a friend’s shop turned into a homicide and then a staged abduction with a ransom demand.
Using the view once feature on WhatsApp, Adeleye sent the widowed woman two pictures of her daughter. In one of the pictures, FIJ observed he held her head up with his hand. She was already dead when he took the pictures, but the woman and investigators did not know this until his confession on Monday.
After sending this picture, he made a N3 million demand and gave her a 24-hour deadline lest “We off your pikin, sell her part[sic]“.
Adeleye further said in Pidgin English, “We don kidnap your pikin, madam. No be only your pikin de here.“
RANSOM NEGOTIATIONS
For the better part of eight days, Adeleye pretended to be a man from northern Nigeria, declined calls and claimed he would accept N400,000 if the money came quickly.
FIJ read the messages exchanged between them. On August 21, he claimed he was involved in organ harvesting and, if he got demands, he may kill her and sell her parts for N1.5 million.
“I have nothing to lose, madam. If you don’t settle us, the harvesters will, and they [pay] nothing less than N1.5 million for a healthy body. So, you see I have nothing to lose,” he wrote. “If I collect anything less than N1.5 million from you, that is me helping you.”
Before sending this message, he wrote, “My one and only job is to get people, young and healthy people, majorly between the age 18-40, and your daughter is very well in that age bracket.
“Now, you may ask; why are we requesting for ransom? If there is no demand for organs yet, we reach out to the families of the people we have. If they meet our demands, we set them free.” He added, “If they don’t, we keep them healthy those in charge of harvesting are in need, and by the way, they are always in need.”
When the widow told him she could only raise N350,000 through donations from her church, he suggested she inform her friends in school so they could raise money.
He said, “Don’t you think it will be nice if her school friends know what is happening to her because it occurred to me that no one of them knows what is happening and you don’t think they could be of help to you, madam, help you contribute to your cause[sic]?”
At this time, Adeleye was speaking with Idowu’s other friends and feigning concern over the matter. This, FIJ gathered, was how he established they did not know about the ransom demand.
Upon his arrest, the military found seven phones in Adeleye’s possession. They also found an email address he created to receive a statement of account confirming ransom payment.
To apprehend him, the military obtained a SportyBet account he provided to Idowu’s mother; 9336380839 (Wema Bank), and froze the account after she paid N350,000 into it on August 21.
After experiencing issues accessing the account, Adeleye demanded a statement of account be sent to him via the email address; musaahmed0288@gmail.com.
The email address he created, was a combination of two names; Musa and Ahmed, to match the persona he had donned to execute the con.
Adeleye made the woman send more money to Idowu’s bank account so he could withdraw it. She sent N10,000 and begged him to release her daughter, but he complained that the money was insufficient.
“Just 10k, madam?” he asked. “I thought you said you had more. This woman no serious.”
He then told her he would follow up with the issues preventing him from accessing the N350,000 she paid earlier.
“I will text you when I get it. Until then before I text you,” he told her on August 23. “Have a good weekend.” He then added a Hausa greeting to keep up the act. “Na gode sai ku,” he said. The sentence translates literally as “Thank you, and you”.
On Sunday, the 174 Batallion tracked Idowu’s phone to Adeleye’s residence where they picked him up. He confessed to burying her in a shallow grave in his compound. During interrogation, Adeleye attempted to commit suicide but was restrained, the insider told FIJ.
The matter has now been transferred to the Lagos Police Command for further investigation.
Via telephone calls, FIJ shared its findings with Joel Ugowe, the Commissioner of Police who heads the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, and he expressed readiness to probe the matter.
