The main suspect in the kidnap and murder of Christiana Idowu a 300-level student at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has been arrested and handed over to the police in Lagos State.
Lagos State police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed Thursday that the suspect identified as Adeleye Ayomide, 23, is in custody.
“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,” Hundeyin wrote on his X page.
Christiana Idowu went missing on Monday, August 19, 2024 on her way to the University of Lagos in Yaba. A day after, her family received a phone from the suspect urging them to pay N3m for the safe return of their daughter. But the family was able to raise N350,000 which was sent to the account of the suspect.
However, Christiana did not make it home out alive prompting an outrage on social media. The hashtag #JusticeForChristiana trended Nigeria’s X domain, with over 90,000 posts.
Security operatives swung into action using the bank account number of the suspect. They tracked him down to his parents’ house in Ikorodu area of Lagos where he was arrested. Christiana’s phone was found on him and also the details of bank transactions for the N350,000 were found on his phone.
He later led the security officers to where he buried Christiana in a shallow grave after he murdered her.
During the investigations it was revealed that Christiana and the suspect attend the same Church and are well known to each other and also follow themselves on social media. He had also been linked to the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and sister in previous incidents in 2018 and 2020.
