Abductors kill kidnapped FUNAAB student in Lagos

A 300-level student from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Christiana Idowu, who was kidnapped between Ikorodu and Yaba in Lagos State, has reportedly been killed by her abductor.

Christiana, who was undergoing industrial training at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), left her home in Ita Oluwo, Ikorodu, before being abducted.

The suspect has since been arrested through combined efforts from security agencies.

According to a viral post on X, intelligence agents tracked down the abductor using the BVN and bank account details associated with the ransom payments made by Christiana’s family.

The kidnappers initially demanded a ransom of N1,500,000, but the family managed to raise N350,000, which was transferred to a betting account. After receiving the money, the abductor ceased communication with the family.

Investigations led to the arrest of the suspect at his parent’s house in Ikorodu. Evidence, including the victim’s phone and details linking the suspect to the ransom transactions, was found on the suspect’s device.

On September 3, the suspect allegedly confessed to killing Christiana and burying her in their house.

The tragic incident has sparked outrage on social media, with many Nigerians calling for justice under the hashtag #JusticeForChristianah.

The tweet read, “On the 19th of August 2024, Christiannah Idowu was declared missing after her parents were contacted by her abductors using her own WhatsApp contact.

“The first contact with the parents was established around 8:49pm, after which they sent photos of the victim in captivity to them using the WhatsApp ‘view once’ feature.

“The abductors requested for a ransom fee of N1,500,000. Christiannah’s parents raised N350,000 immediately. The abductor then requested that the money be sent to a bet account through a bank deposit channel. (Info reserved for now)

““After receiving the money, on the 22nd of August, the abductor requested that bank statement of the sender be forwarded to his email (withheld).

“On the 23rd of August, family complied. Immediately after that, the abductor stopped communicating with the parents.

“Meanwhile, on the 22nd of August, some amount was sent to the GTB account of Christiannah and the amount was then withdrawn into the wema bank account belonging to the main suspect ( Name withheld for now).

“Investigation by intelligence operatives began on the 26th to unravel details of the account number.

“By the 29th, intelligence operatives had confirmation from the bank that the BVN linked to the masked Betting account allegedly belonged to the account owner (name withheld for now) who also operates the Wema Bank (account no withheld for now).

“Further investigation revealed that he was able to withdraw the sum of 100,000 from the betting account before agents got the bet company to lock the account.

“Armed by these information, operatives began investigation into the suspect whom they observed to have a mutual relationship with Christiannah Idowu, especially judging by Instagram posts as they both commented on each other’s pages.

“The crazy thing is: the same account number used to launder some amount directly from Christiannah’s account has been posted on Twitter once to “beg for a give away free money.

“With all these information at hand, the operatives began to track down his cell phone activities and text messages. The cell phone tracking led them to his parent’s house, somewhere in IKORODU.

“Operatives then got confirmation of his presence in the building through active tracking of his mobile device. Immediately, gallant personnel of the Nigerian army 174bn swooped in on the suspect to conduct arrest.

“After the arrest, damning evidences were seen with the suspect and this includes the victim blue ITEL A56 with IMEI:35230.

“Also, in his phones are details of the money moved and also details confirming he owns the Betting account that was locked. It was registered with his phone number.

“On his phone, they found an interaction between his personal email and the email address that has been interacting with the family of the deceased.

“After reviewing the evidence, the suspect was then taken into custody to enable the operatives conduct further investigations. Upon reviewing this evidence, suspect was successful taken into custody for necessary action.

“On September 3, the suspect reportedly confessed to the father and the soldiers that he killed the girl and buried her in their house.

“There is also a new story awaiting further confirmation that in 2018, the suspect’s ex-girlfriend was killed in same manner. Also that in 2020, the suspect’s own biological sister met the same fate, and the same thing has happened to Christiannah in 2024.”