The Lagos State Police Command has discovered the shallow grave in which Ayomide Adeleye buried the body of Christianah Idowu, a 300 Level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), whom he killed on August 19.
They found the body on Saturday during a visit to Adeleye’s house, two days after arresting the 23-year-old 200 Level Philosophy student of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State.
FIJ earlier reported how the 174 Battalion of the army apprehended Ayodele in the Ikorodu area of Lagos on September 1, and how he confessed to killing the girl.
Idowu had set out to the Yaba area of Lagos on August 19 when it began to rain. She then sought shelter in a shop belonging to Ayodele’s family. She and the suspect were friends and members of the same church.
In his confession to the army, Ayodele detailed how he invited Idowu into his house, attempted to take advantage of her, killed her and then sent a picture of her propped-up dead body to Rita Ozobia, her widowed mother.
This led to a 13-day search for Idowu. The search ended when the military tracked Ayodele to his house and found the Idowu’s phone with him.
On Friday, Ozobia visited the police command to make an official statement detailing how Ayodele deceived her about the state of her daughter’s wellbeing and demanded N3 million ransom in exchange for the 21-year-old. She told them how he made her believe her daughter was still alive and put her through more misery as she had to borrow N350,000 to pay him.
In a telephone interview with FIJ before making the statement, Ozobia said, “The police said they are investigating but I don’t want them to sweep the case under [the carpet]. They should bring out my daughter’s body and put her in a mortuary at least. A lot of time has passed. I don’t want them to say the evidence is lost.”
She called FIJ again on Saturday evening to confirm the police visited her neighbourhood and saw the grave site but were yet to exhume Idowu’s body and potentially others.
On Saturday, FIJ called Benjamin Hundeyin, the spokesman for the Lagos Police, but he did not answer the calls. He also did not respond to a text message FIJ sent to him.
Meanwhile, FIJ learnt from sources privy to the matter that Ayodele’s mother had abandoned the family residence since her son’s arrest. The source said the army met her when they went to apprehend the suspect on September 1 but, upon the police’s return to the house, she was no longer in the compound.
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