How OOU Student, Ayomide Adeleye Murdered Friend, Christianah Idowu Then Demanded Ransom From Her Family

New details have emerged in the heinous killing of an undergraduate, Christianah Idowu by her friend and church member Ayomide Adeleye.

Ayomide, a 200 Level Philosophy student of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State, confessed on Monday, September 2, to killing Christianah Idowu, a 300 Level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

Christianah had gone missing on August 19 while on her way from Ita Oluwo to the University of Lagos in Yaba where she was undergoing industrial training (IT).

Ayomide, 23, was arrested on Sunday, September 1, after troops of the 174 Battalion of the Nigerian Army tracked Christianah Idowu’s phone to his residence in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

Ayomide denied knowledge of Christianah's whereabouts and claimed he was a phone repairer. He said unknown persons gave him the phone to repair and he asked no questions.

In this report by the Foundation For Investigative Journalists (FIJ), the timeline of Christianah's murder and the subsequent attempt to extort her family was explained.

Christianah and Ayomide knew each other as they both schooled in Ogun State, attended the same church and lived in the same Ita Oluwo community.

"On that Sunday, the girl who normally goes to UNILAG on weekends to return home on Friday left her house as usual,” an insider told FIJ.

"While on her way, it began to rain, so she took cover in Ayomide (Adeleye)’s family’s shop which was just outside his house.

"The boy narrated everything in custody. She only wanted to stay out there for a while and head back to her destination, but he invited her into his house when the rainfall became intense."

While in his house, Ayomide attempted to have intercourse with her but she resisted, so he killed her.

At 8:50 pm on the same day, he used Christianah's phone to text her mother via WhatsApp, saying: "Hello Madam, you have such a beautiful daughter. How much are you willing to pay to see her again? We have her in our custody."

Ayomide then took a photo of Christianah,  who was dead already and sent it to her mother on WhatsApp using the view once feature.

He propped up her face with his hand while snapping the photo to hide the fact that she was dead already.

After sending the picture, he demanded N3 million ransom and gave her a 24-hour deadline before "We off your pikin, sell her part."

Ayomide added in the WhatsApp message, "We don kidnap your pikin, madam. No be only your pikin de here."

For over a week, Ayomide pretended to be a man from northern Nigeria as he negotiated with the family via WhatsApp.

He later said he was willing to accept N400,000 if it was sent quickly.

On August 21, he told the Idowu family that he was involved in organ harvesting and he had no qualms killing her and selling her parts if they didn't pay the ransom.

He wrote, "My one and only job is to get people, young and healthy people, majorly between the age 18-40, and your daughter is very well in that age bracket.

"Now, you may ask; why are we requesting for ransom? If there is no demand for organs yet, we reach out to the families of the people we have. If they meet our demands, we set them free. If they don’t, we keep them healthy those in charge of harvesting are in need, and by the way, they are always in need."

He added: "I have nothing to lose, madam. If you don’t settle us, the harvesters will, and they [pay] nothing less than N1.5 million for a healthy body. So, you see I have nothing to lose.

"If I collect anything less than N1.5 million from you, that is me helping you."

When Christianah's mother, a widow, told him she could only raise N350,000 through donations from her church, he told her to inform Christianah's friends at school to help complete the ransom.

He wrote: "Don’t you think it will be nice if her school friends know what is happening to her because it occurred to me that no one of them knows what is happening and you don’t think they could be of help to you, madam, help you contribute to your cause?"

Ayomide knew this because he was speaking to Christianah's friends, feigning concern for her while getting information from them. It was from his conversation with them that he realised they knew nothing about the ransom demanded.

He created an email address with a northern name to match the persona he created. The email was to receive a statement of account confirming the payment of the ransom.

He also provided Christianah's mother with a SportyBet account (Wema Bank: 9336380839) for the ransom payment.

The military froze the account after Christianah's mother paid N350,000 into it on August 21.

After experiencing issues accessing the account, Ayomide asked that a statement of account be sent to him via the email address; [email protected].

Subsequently, he demanded that Christianah's mother sends more money to her daughter's bank account so he could withdraw it.

She sent N10,000 and begged him to release her daughter, but he complained that the money was too small.

He texted her: "Just 10k, madam? I thought you said you had more. This woman no serious."

He added that he would reach out to her when he gets the ransom

"I will text you when I get it. Until then before I text you," he told her on August 23.

"Have a good weekend.Na gode sai ku," he greeted in Hausa.

On Sunday, September 1, the 174 Batallion tracked Idowu’s phone to Ayomide’s residence where they picked him up.

They found seven phones in Ayomide Adeleye’s possession.

During interrogation, he confessed to killing her on the very first day and burying her in a shallow grave in his compound before demanding ransom from her mother.

Ayomide also attempted to commit su!cide during interrogation but was restrained, the insider told FIJ.

The matter has now been transferred to the Lagos Police Command for further investigation.