Man who killed FUNAAB student still in prison custody — Lagos Police

The Lagos State Police Command has confirmed that Ayomide Adeleye, who confessed to the murder of his friend and neighbour, Christianah Idowu, has been charged with murder and remains in custody.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, issued the clarification in response to reports alleging that Adeleye was not in custody at any Lagos correctional facility.

“We can confirm that Ayomide Adeleye was charged with murder and was remanded for the same offence.

“It is also a fact that another person bearing the same name was remanded for a different offence and released in April 2024, long before the Ayomide we are talking about committed his offence,” Hundeyin said.

The clarification follows a report by an investigative platform, Foundation For Investigative Journalism (FIJ), which had in a report titled: ‘CONFIRMED: Confessed Killer Ayomide Adeleye Not in Prison, Never Remanded for Murder’, claimed the suspect was no longer in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

FIJ, which quoted unnamed sources, reported that there were two individuals named Ayomide Adeleye with the NCoS, but neither was charged with murder, and both have since been released.

The platform said, “A credible source with access to NCoS records disclosed, ‘We had one in Ikoyi and one in Kirikiri Medium, but they are no longer with us. They have been released. None of them was charged with murder or kidnapping.”

It added that when pressed for clarification, the source reiterated, “There is no Ayomide Adeleye in any prison in Lagos. Maybe you should ask the police, as they are the ones who obtained the remand warrant.”

But Hundeyin explained that confusion arose due to a different individual with the same name who had been remanded and later released for an unrelated offence in April 2024.

Hundeyin criticised the misinformation, urging investigative bodies to rely on official sources for accurate reporting.

Adeleye, a 200-level Philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), confessed in September to killing Idowu, a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State.

On November 5, Adeleye was arraigned before Magistrate Seyi Omodara at the Ogba Magistrate Court.

The court issued a remand order, committing him to the Ikoyi Correctional Center pending advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

The case remains under investigation as authorities await further directives.