From Ahmed Muhammed Danasabe, Lokoja
The Kogi State Police Command has paraded four suspects in connection with the killing of Damilola Olowoyo, a 19-year-old 100-level student at the Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State.
The four suspects paraded are Jeremiah Paul, Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga and Ajayi Basit Ayomide.
Parading the suspects at the Police headquarters in Lokoja on Friday, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP William Ovye Aya noted the prime suspect, Jeremiah Paul, lured the deceased to the bush and killed her for a money ritual.
Narrating how the suspects were arrested, Aya said there was a complaint to the Commissioner of Police about the disappearance of Damilola Orowoyo, a 100-level student in the Department of Biological Science, Federal University Lokoja.
He said, “The Commissioner of Police swung into action and assigned the matter to the state Intelligence Department. The operative swung into action immediately and started working on the phone of the deceased since it could not be reached. With the help of the technical unit at the force headquarters, we were able to apprehend Jeremiah Paul in connection with the case.
“The suspect actually confessed to us that on the 4th of September 2024, he met the deceased Damilola and lured her to the bush. At first, he pretended that he liked her. When she accepted, he took her to an apartment. Before then, he gave the deceased a drink. Unknown to her, inside the drink, he has put some codeine.
“This worked in her system which made her weak for the suspect to carry out his heinous crime. He took the deceased to an uncompleted building before strangling her to death and dismembered her body. He removed her eyes, lungs, lever, tongue and fleshy part of her buttocks to perform some rituals.
“Initially, he called the parent of the deceased to say that he had kidnapped the lady and demanded ransom, which was paid before killing the girl. He collected a ransom of N400,000 from the parents.
“Further investigation also revealed that one of the suspects here was the first person that approached the girl, but because he couldn’t provide what was being demanded from him, he withdrew. The main suspect, Jeremiah Paul, decided to step in. He came with his friend from Kaduna State to commit this crime.”
He appealed to parents and students to be conscious of the people they are moving with.
Continuing, Aya said, “You may be seeing somebody as a human being, but he is not. This act that Jeremiah Paul and his gang have carried out is inhuman. Imagine a 20-year-old boy going this far as killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive part in the name of carrying out our rituals.
”It shows that the society we are living people needs to be very careful. I am calling on the Students across the various institutions to be very careful with their friends, coursemates, and neighbours they are mingling with. Some people will be within the school environment but they are not Students.
“Some may have admission and they are in school, but they have their own aim of being there. Students should be content with what they have. Because of a little thing, this girl lost her life. A 17-year-old that has a future has been cut short by these criminals.”
He warned that the case of Jeremiah and his cohort should be a signal to all the criminals in Kogi State adding that the eagle eye of the Police and other security agencies is on all the criminal elements in the State.
“We are now sending a warning to all criminals to beware that without the effective collaboration of the Police and other security agencies with the support of the public, criminals will not have Kogi State as a safe haven to carry out their heinous actss. Whoever is found calling for any act of criminalities in the State will definitely be prosecuted.
“Aya noted that the command will arraign the foursfourects as soon as investigation is concluded,” he added.
