The operatives of the Kogi State Police Command have apprehended four persons in connection to the alleged gruesome murder of a female student of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL).

The command’s spokesman, SP Williams Ovye-Aya, made this known while addressing newsmen in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on Friday, September 13, 2024.

The victim, a 17-year-old 100-level student of Biology Department at FUL, was allegedly kidnapped and killed by a 21-year-old man.

Ovye-Aya said that the main suspect allegedly conspired with three of his friends to commit the crime.

He said: “The Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, attached to the State Intelligence Department (SID), Kogi Command, on September 11, arrested one Jeremiah Paul-Awe of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“Paul-Awe was the one responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the victim.

“We received a complaint from one Stephen Oluwoyo that his daughter was missing and that he couldn’t reach her.

“The father further stated that he received a message from an unknown number that his daughter,  had been abducted and the abductor demanded a ransom.”

Gunmen kidnap Kogi LG chairman, aides

Ovye-Aya said police operatives promptly swung into action through an actionable intelligence with the assistance of the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) from the Force Headquarters, trailed, and arrested the suspect.

The police spokesperson added: “During interrogation, the suspect confessed that he kidnapped and killed the victim on September 4 at about 8:30 p.m.

“He further confessed that he added a drugged and strangled her.

“He mutilated her corpse by removing her eyes, lung, liver, tongue, intestines, and other parts and dumped the corpse in the bush.

“The suspect further disclosed that immediately he killed his victim, he placed a call to the father and demanded a ransom to enable him meet up with the requirements for the rituals from a native doctor he met on TikTok.

“The father of the deceased, ignorant of her death, sent N400,000 as ransom to the suspect for her release.”

Ovye-Aya said after Paul-Awe’s arrest on September 11, the suspect led the team of police operatives to the scene where the corpse was recovered, evacuated, and deposited at the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja mortuary for autopsy.

He added that further investigation led to the arrest of the three other suspects.

The police spokesman said the prime suspect disclosed that two of the three suspects were his friends who aided him in committing the crime.

Ovye-Aya said the four suspects would be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.

The Star