If Ayomide Adeleye, a 23-year-old, 300-level philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), had understood the profound consequences of taking another person's life, he likely would have chosen to stay in poverty.
The lanky black complexioned young
man who resides with his parents in Ikorodu in Lagos is now cooling his head inside the cell of
Lagos state Police Command Tactical Unit, Ikeja.
He bemoaned the fate that
befell him, lamenting that after his arrest, he tried to cut his fingers with any
sharp object so that he would bleed to death but for the vigilant security
agents that stopped him.
His
story:
“I was born in Surulere Local
Government area in June, 2001. My parents later relocated to Ikorodu where we
have our own house. I have three siblings. One of them is late. I am the first
son, and my father is a boat driver. Before I was born, he and my mum worked at
Eko hotel. So, I think due to their marriage, one of them had to stop working.
When he stopped, my mum was still there until 2011. I attend the Redeemed
Christian Church of God.
How
it happened
“I had not been at home for
over six months. The victim, Christiana Idowu, 18, contacted me several times
in school where I was studying Philosophy, in 300 level. She had been
contacting me that she wanted to repair her phone because I had repaired it for
her before.
How
did you meet her?
“We were church members. I had
known her for three years before the incident. She had been contacting me and I
told her I would be at home at the end of the session. When I came back to
Lagos, she called and I told her I was at home. She came to our house around
5pm on the day of the incident and asked me to repair her phone. She was an
Industrial Training, IT, student in Yaba College of Technology. She came with a
bike. She had her bag and other things she used in school. So, when she
arrived, I collected the phone from her, looked at it, and I discovered that
the phone only had battery problem and the screen was faulty. I just needed to
put gum on the screen and change the battery. But she was not ready to change
the battery, she just wanted to continue using the phone like that.
Why
did you kill her?
“I killed her because I had
financial problems. I thought of the problems and decided to strangle her while
she was busy going through my phone. I then called her mother claiming that she
was kidnapped and she should pay ransom. I didn’t really pounce on her. She was
preoccupied with my own phone. Then, it was drizzling, and a little noisy, so,
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. I placed her body on a seat and took her picture so that I could send it to
her mother. I didn’t send it immediately, I just left her at the shop like
that. That was around 5:30 pm on Monday night. I left her on the seat and went
to plan how to dispose of the body. By 11 p.m. that same night, I started to
dig her grave in a small farm behind our compound. Luckily, rain fell that day,
so the ground was a little soft. I dug using shovel. I was not able to dig deep
that night. So, I postponed the digging. The body was still in the shop. By 4
am the following day, I woke up, I continued digging. Honestly, I did not close
my eyes till day break. I was just filled with thoughts about what I did. I
then took the body to the shallow grave only to notice that it could not be
covered well. I thought of what to do because I was really tired of digging. I
had blisters on my hand and the shovel I used had already broken. So, I thought
of chopping off her head to make it easy to bury but I did not have the courage
to do that. I just had to continue digging even if the shovel broke, I
continued to dig until the shallow grave could contain her. I then buried her,
covered it with sand. Everything happened before 5 a.m. Then I left the scene
to contact her mother and demanded ransom.”
How
did you get the mother’s number?
“It was on the daughter’s
phone. Luckily, she did not have PIN number or pass code. I recognized her
mother’s face on her profile picture. I then called and the first thing I said
to her was, “Hello, madam. we have your daughter.” The next thing she said was
“who be this?.” Maybe she thought it wasn’t for real. Then I sent a text
message telling her same thing. I sent it with the picture where she was
sitting on a chair. She asked me, “What do you want?” I told her, “madam, how
much do you have?” I spoke to her. I wrote everything in Pidgin. She said, “I
don’t have any money. I am a single mother.”
I said, “Madam, just bring
anything.” She said she didn’t have, I said; “bring three million to release
your daughter.” 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. That was three days
after I buried her daughter. She sent the money there, but, I was unable to
withdraw at first because Sporty bet had this rule that once you deposit, you
have to play at least a game before you can withdraw. I tried to withdraw but
they locked the fund. Then, they asked me to present my NIN for verification. I
sent it to them, and they released the money. They didn’t release it until
three days later.
“I then asked the mother again,
“madam, how much can you pay again? She said the money in her account wasn’t up
to N10, 000.00. I said, just hurry, hurry, put it together and send. “She sent
it to her daughter’s account making the whole money N360, 000.00 paid as
ransom. After that, I stopped all communication with the mother. But, before
they sent the money, they were telling me that they wanted to actually see a
video or voice confirmation of the girl but the girl was no more. It was only
that picture I took that I was able to send. So, I just kept on pushing them. I
used the money to take care of my personal and family financial problems.”
How
did the police arrest you?
“It was not police, I was
picked up by soldiers. They told me it was through my Sporty bet because I
uploaded my NIN so it was traced. If I had not uploaded my NIN, it would just
be an empty account. 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.”
How
do you feel now that you have taken somebody’s life over peanuts?
“Even before I was arrested,
Christiana was somebody that I had known for over three years, and we were
close friends. I regret that I killed her because my mum and her mum were
friends.”
Have
you ever had any mental issues that landed you in the hospital?
“I wouldn’t say that it landed
me in the hospital, but I am always alone. I don’t like associating with
anybody.”
What
was the last word she said before you took her life?
“She was focusing on the TikTok
video. She did not say anything. In fact, when that incident happened, my cell
phone dropped from her hand.”
Now,
what do you want to be done to you?
“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.”
(Vanguard)
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