The police have apprehended four individuals in connection with the alleged murder of a 17-year-old female student from the Federal University Lokoja (FUL). The victim, a 100-level Biology student, was reportedly kidnapped and killed by a 21-year-old man.
Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Williams Ovye-Aya, disclosed this while addressing the media in Lokoja. Ovye-Aya explained that the primary suspect conspired with three accomplices to commit the crime.
“The operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, attached to the State Intelligence Department (SID), Kogi Command, arrested Jeremiah Paul-Awe of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on September 11. He is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the victim,” said Ovye-Aya.
The incident came to light when the victim’s father, Stephen Oluwoyo, reported his daughter missing after failing to reach her. He later received a message from an unknown number demanding ransom for her release.
Police, with the assistance of the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) from Force Headquarters, launched an investigation that led to the arrest of Paul-Awe. During interrogation, the suspect confessed to kidnapping and killing the victim on September 4 at approximately 8:30 p.m. He admitted to drugging, strangling, and mutilating her body, removing several organs before dumping the corpse in a bush.
Shockingly, after killing the victim, the suspect called her father and demanded a ransom of N400,000 to fund ritual requirements from a native doctor he had contacted through TikTok. The father, unaware of his daughter’s death, paid the ransom, hoping for her release.
Following Paul-Awe’s arrest, the police recovered the victim’s body, which was taken to the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja for autopsy. Further investigation led to the arrest of the three accomplices, two of whom were identified as the suspect’s friends who assisted in the crime.
SP Ovye-Aya confirmed that the four suspects would be arraigned in court upon completion of the investigation.
