,,,,,Gives gruesome picture of his heinous crime against humanity.
The prime suspect (left) and one of his gangs in the act
By correspondent in Lokoja.
Jeremiah Paul(20), the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a 19-year-old Damilola Olowoyo,a 11 level student of the Federal University, Lokoja, kogi state, north central Nigeria,said he killed Damilola for ritual purpose.
The suspected Murderer and his victim.
Paul, who was paraded by the Police Command in kogi state in Lokoja on Friday said this in his confessional statement to the police upon interrogation.
Paul, who is from Chikun Local Government of Kaduna State,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.”
While parading the along with his colleagues in the act;Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga and Ajayi Basit Ayomide,the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO for the Police Command in the state,SP.William Ovie Aya, confirmed the confessional statement made the suspect.
Aya added that the prime suspect, Jeremiah Paul, lured the deceased to the bush and killed her for money ritual.
According to the police image maker,Paul was arrested, following to the police command.
He 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 parents of the deceased that he has kidnapped the lady and demanded for ransom in which he 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 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, Jeremiah Paul decided to step in. He came with his friend from Kaduna State to commit this crime.”
SP Aya advised members of the public, especially parents and students to be conscious of people they are moving with.
“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-year -old boy going this far, killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive parts in the name of carrying our rituals,” he lamented.
The Police image maker described the arrest of Jeremiah and his gang as a signal to all the criminals in Kogi State,that the eagle eye of the Police and other security agencies are on them.
He assured that the Command would arraign the four suspects in court as soon as investigation on their case is concluded.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
