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, FUL, Kogi State.
The four suspects paraded are Jeremiah Paul, Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga and Ajayi Basit Ayomide.
Parading the suspects at the Police headquarter in Lokoja on Friday, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP William Ovye Aya noted that the prime suspect, Jeremiah Paul, lured the deceased to the bush and killed her for money ritual.
Narrating how Paul was 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 Biological Science, Federal University Lokoja.
“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, 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, liver, tongue and fleshy part of her buttocks with the purpose of performing some rituals.
“Initially, he called the parent of the deceased that he has kidnapped the lady and demanded for ransom in which it 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 is being demanded from him, he withdrew. The main suspect which is Jeremiah Paul decided to step in. He came with his friend from Kaduna State to commit this crime.”
The Police spokesman appealed to parents and students to be conscious of 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 an inhuman act. Imagine a 20 years old boy going this far, killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive parts in the name of carrying money rituals.
“It shows that the society we are living in, people need to be very careful. I am calling on the students across the various institutions to be very careful with the friends, coursemates, and neighbors 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 thing, this girl lost her life. A 17 years 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 are on all the criminal elements in the state.
“We are now sending a warning to all criminals to beware that 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 act. Whoever that is involved in any act of criminality in the state will definitely be prosecuted,” he added.
Aya noted that the Command will arraign the fours suspects as soon as investigation is concluded.
The prime suspect Jeremiah Paul, aged 20, who hailed 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 week Sunday and approached her in which she accepted. We started chatting. I already had it in mind that I want 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 won’t suspect me. When she drank it, I told her 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 calabash and a knife. In the calabash, 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 part of her body, which is is the eyes, tongue, lungs, intestine and some part 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 waybill it back to Ibadan. After that, he now waybill 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.”