The Kogi State Police Command has paraded four suspects in connection with the killing of Damilola Olowoyo, a 19-year-old 100-level student of the Federal University Lokoja.
The four suspects paraded included Jeremiah Paul, the principal suspect, who was arrested around the Felele area of the state capital on Wednesday, Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga and Ajayi Basit Ayomide.
Paul, a 20-year-old who hails from Chikun Local Government of Kaduna State, confessed to committing the crime.
In his confessional statement, Paul said, “I came to Kogi State to hustle. I met Damilola last Sunday. I approached her and she accepted. We started chatting. I already had it in mind that I wanted to use Damilola for ritual. I bought codeine and Sprite and mixed it up and gave it to her.
“I first drank it so that she wouldn’t suspect it. When she drank it, I told her to let us go to my house, and she agreed. When she felt weak, I took her to an uncompleted building close to my place and strangled her to death. The cloth she was wearing, I used it to tie her leg and neck. I later dragged her to a nearby bush and removed what the native doctor told me to remove.
“The native doctor who resides in Ibadan sent a driver and brought a calabash and a knife. He used a black and white cotton to wrap the calabash and a red cloth to wrap the knife. It is the knife I used to remove parts of her body, which are the eyes, tongue, lungs, intestine and some parts of her buttocks. I put it inside the calabash and wrapped it. I now gave it to the driver who he sent from Ibadan to Lokoja. So, the driver waybilled it back to Ibadan. After that, he now waybilled my soap back to Lokoja. I met the native doctor on TikTok, and I copied his number and later messaged him on WhatsApp. I went with my friend to Ibadan to see the native doctor”.
Parading the suspects at the Police headquarters in Lokoja yesterday, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), William Aya noted that Paul lured the deceased into the bush and killed her for a money ritual.
Aya, a Superintendent of Police (SP), while disclosing how the suspects were arrested, said there was a complaint made to the Commissioner of Police (CP), over the disappearance of Olowoyo, a student in the Department of Biological Science, Federal University Lokoja.
His words: “The Commissioner of Police swung into action and assigned the matter to the State Intelligence Department. The operatives 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 4th of September, 2024, that he met the deceased Olowoyo 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 had 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, liver, tongue and fleshy part of her buttocks with the purpose of performing some rituals.
“Initially, he called the parents of the deceased that he had kidnapped the lady and demanded for ransom, in which he 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”.
The PPRO appealed to parents and students to be conscious of people they are moving with.
He added, “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 an inhuman act. Imagine a 20-year old boy going this far; killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive body parts, in the name of carrying out rituals.
“It shows that in the society we are living in, people need to be very careful. I am calling on students across the various institutions to be very careful with their friends, course mates 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 contented with what they have. Because of little things, this girl lost her life”.
He added that the command will arraign the four suspects as soon as investigation is concluded.
