The Nigeria Police Force has arrested a 23-year-old suspect, Ayomide Adeleye for the murder of Idowu Christianah.
Idowu who was a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB), Ogun State, was abducted along the Ikorodu-Yaba Road, Lagos, in August by the suspect.
On Wednesday, September 4, a Nigerian X user, @letter_to_jack, took to the platform to demand justice for Idowu Christianah, a young woman who was abducted and killed by an acquaintance, Adeleye Ayomide.
The hashtag #JusticeForChristiannah is now trending across social media. Here’s what we know so far.
Tweeps give account of the incident:
On August 19, 2024, Idowu Christianah was declared missing after her abductors contacted her parents using her own WhatsApp account. The kidnappers sent photos of her captivity via the ‘view once’ feature and demanded ₦1.5 million in ransom.
Christianah’s parents raised ₦350,000, which they transferred to a betting account as directed by the abductors.
After receiving the money, the kidnappers requested a copy of the sender’s bank statement. Christianah’s family complied on August 23, but the abductors stopped communicating afterwards.
In the meantime, some ransom funds were transferred into Christianah’s GTB account and later withdrawn into a Wema Bank account linked to the main suspect, Adeleye Ayomide, a 200-level student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU).
How did the authorities track Adeleye?
On August 26, investigators began tracking the linked bank accounts. By August 29, they confirmed that the BVN tied to the betting account belonged to Adeleye Ayomide. He had already withdrawn ₦100,000 before the betting company locked the account. Investigators also discovered Ayomide had a personal connection to Christianah, with evidence from their Instagram interactions.
Authorities further tracked Ayomide’s mobile device to his parent’s house in Ikorodu, after which the military personnel from the 174 Battalion were deployed to make the arrest. Upon searching his phone, police found incriminating evidence, including Christianah’s phone and bank records linking Ayomide to the crime. Email conversations between Ayomide and the family were also discovered.
On September 3, 2024, Ayomide confessed to killing Christianah and burying her in his family home.
There are additional reports suggesting Ayomide might have been involved in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend in 2018 and his biological sister in 2020 under similar circumstances.
Reacting, in a short statement issued on X while sharing the picture of the suspect being handcuffed, the Lagos State Police Spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed his arrest.
The police said the suspect was handed to them by the Nigerian Army on Thursday afternoon, adding that an investigation was ongoing on the matter.
The police wrote, “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. Investigationis ongoing.”