By Francesca Hangeior
Ayomide Adeleye, the 200 Level Philosophy student of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State, who kidnapped and killed Christianah Idowu, a 300 Level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), attended the same church with her.
It had been reported that the deceased left her home in the Itaoluwo area of Ikorodu heading for the University of Lagos, where she was observing her industrial training before she was abducted.
Citing a source, FIJ, an online publication, narrated that Adeleye and Idowu knew each other as they both schooled in Ogun State and attended the same church.
The source said: “On that Sunday, the girl who normally goes to UNILAG on weekends to return home on Friday, left her house as usual.
“While on her way, it began to rain, so she took cover in Ayomide Adeleye’s family’s shop which was just outside his house.
“The boy narrated everything in custody. She only wanted to stay out there for a while and head back to her destination, but he invited her into his house when the rainfall became intense.”
While in his house, Adeleye attempted to take advantage of his victim, but she resisted. He then killed her.
After she was unreachable for a while, Adeleye reached out to the family through her telephone and demanded the sum of N3m as ransom but they bargained it to N350,000.
In a viral post on X, a user, @letter_to_jack, disclosed that intelligence operatives were able to uncover the location of the abductor through the BVN and account details used in collecting ransom from the family.
At 8:50 pm on the same day, using Idowu’s phone, he texted her mother via WhatsApp. His text messages read, “Hello Madam, you have such a beautiful daughter. How much are you willing to pay to see her again? We have her in our custody.”
Adeleye was said to have sent the deceased’s mother two pictures of her daughter. According to FIJ, Idowu was already dead in one of the pictures as he held her head up with his hand.
“After sending this picture, he made a N3 million demand and gave her a 24-hour deadline lest “We off your pikin, sell her part [sic]“.
Adeleye further said in Pidgin English, “We don kidnap your pikin, madam. No be only your pikin de here.“
For the better part of eight days, Adeleye pretended to be a man from northern Nigeria, declined calls and claimed he would accept N400,000 if the money came quickly.
“I have nothing to lose, madam. If you don’t settle us, the harvesters will, and they [pay] nothing less than N1.5 million for a healthy body. So, you see I have nothing to lose,” he wrote. “If I collect anything less than N1.5 million from you, that is me helping you.”
Before sending this message, he reportedly wrote, “My one and only job is to get people, young and healthy people, majorly between the age 18 and 40, and your daughter is very well in that age bracket.
“Now, you may ask; why are we requesting for ransom? If there is no demand for organs yet, we reach out to the families of the people we have.
“If they meet our demands, we set them free. If they don’t, we keep them healthy those in charge of harvesting are in need, and by the way, they are always in need.”
When the widow told him she could only raise N350,000 through donations from her church, he suggested she inform her friends in school so they could raise money.
He said, “Don’t you think it will be nice if her school friends know what is happening to her because it occurred to me that no one of them knows what is happening and you don’t think they could be of help to you, madam, help you contribute to your cause [sic]?”
When the confessed killer was eventually arrested, the military reportedly found seven phones in his possession. They also found an email address he created to receive a statement of account confirming ransom payment.
The military was said to have obtained a SportyBet account he provided to Idowu’s mother; 9336380839 (Wema Bank), and froze the account after she paid N350,000 into it on August 21.
After experiencing issues accessing the account, Adeleye demanded a statement of account be sent to him via the email address; musaahmed0288@gmail.com.
The email address he created, was a combination of two names; Musa and Ahmed, to match the persona he had donned to execute the con.
Adeleye made the woman send more money to Idowu’s bank account so he could withdraw it. She sent N10,000 and begged him to release her daughter, but he complained that the money was insufficient.
“Just 10k, madam?” he asked. “I thought you said you had more. This woman no serious.”
He then told her he would follow up with the issues preventing him from accessing the N350,000 she paid earlier.
“I will text you when I get it.
How Until then before I text you,” he told her on August 23. “Have a good weekend.” He then added a Hausa greeting to keep up the act. “Na gode sai ku,” he said. The sentence translates literally as “Thank you, and you”.
On Sunday, the 174 Batallion tracked Idowu’s phone to Adeleye’s residence where they picked him up. He confessed to burying her in a shallow grave in his compound. During interrogation, Adeleye attempted to commit suicide but was reportedly restrained.