Ayomide Adeleye, a 23-year-old Philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University, has confessed to the chiling murder of an 18-year-old church member and friend, Christiana Idowu.
Security sources revealed on Sunday that Adeleye, who is currently held at the Lagos State Police Command Tactical Unit in Ikeja, admitted to committing the crime due to financial struggles.
“I killed her because I had financial problems,” he stated, describing how he lured the victim to his home under the pretence of repairing her phone.
The incident took place when Christiana Idowu, an Industrial Training student at Yaba College of Technology, visited Ayomide’s residence.
“She came to our house around 5pm on the day of the incident and asked me to repair her phone,” Adeleye recounted.
He went on to detail the horrific moment of the murder, stating, “I just grabbed her, applied pressure. She started struggling. She didn’t really shout because I already suppressed her. I then squeezed her throat, and she gave up.”
Following the murder, Adeleye embarked on a grim plan to dispose of the body and extort money from the victim’s mother.
He described digging a shallow grave behind his compound and burying Idowu’s body in the early hours of the morning.
“By 4am the following day, I woke up, I continued digging. Honestly, I did not close my eyes till daybreak,” he said.
But Adeleye then contacted Idowu’s mother, demanding ransom instead.
“The first thing I said to her was, ‘Hello, madam. we have your daughter,’” he said.
Deploying manipulation and threats, he managed to extort ₦360,000 from the grieving mother.
Narrating the circumstances after demanding three million from the mother, Adeleye said, “I know for a fact that she didn’t have three million. Even if she did not have that amount, I was ready to collect any amount because I desperately needed money no matter the amount.
“After going back and forth with her, she said she was able to get N350, 000.00 and I gave her a sporty bet account to pay the money in order to avoid being traced.”
He added that he later asked for an additional N10,000, which the mother mentioned was all she had left.
Adeleye was eventually tracked down through his SportyBet account, where he had registered using his National Identification Number.
“If I had not uploaded my NIN, it would just be an empty account,” he explained, revealing how his attempt to cover his tracks ultimately led to his arrest.
“But the moment I uploaded my NIN, all my personal details, my location, my address, my name, everything, was already on the sporty bet. The girl’s phone was also with me, they could have traced the location of the phone, that was how they got my location,” he added.
Expressing remorse for his actions, Adeleye stated, “I regret that I killed her because my mum and her mum were friends.”
He added, “I don’t deserve any mercy for what I have done. At the same time, I ask God to forgive me. What I did was totally wrong and I regret it.
“I feel remorseful for what I have done. If there’s any way I could be given a second chance, I want to be given one but I deserve death, honestly. I have been planning to kill myself. While I was in the guard room, I tried to look for any sharp object to cut myself so that I would bleed to death.”
