The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a landlord, Mr Oladele Femi, along with two other suspects over their involvement in the abduction and murder of two students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA).
The victims, Andrel Eloho Okah and John Friday Abah were reported missing a few weeks ago.
Okah, a 19-year-old female student of the Department of History and International Studies, and Abah, 25, a male student of the Department of Economics, were last seen leaving their residence on June 20, 2025.
Their bodies were discovered last weekend near the Ondo-Ekiti State border, disposed off at separate locations between Agbado and Ode-Ekiti.
Confirming the arrests to journalists in Akure, the state capital, Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Adebowale Lawal said the landlord, Oladele, ordered suspected cultists to “deal with” Abah for reportedly being rude to him.
Lawal said the order ultimately led to the abduction and murder of both students.
The arrests followed a petition dated June 24, 2025, submitted by G.O. Omoedu & Co., Legal Practitioners, on behalf of Mr. Emmanuel Peter of Shagari Village, Akure.
Upon receiving the complaint, detectives from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit launched an intensive investigation with a forensic tracking leading investigators to Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos, where an iPhone 14 Pro Max belonging to Abah was recovered from one 38-year-old Abdul Mohammed Mubarak.
The CP said Mubarak confessed to purchasing the phone from Ojo Michael, who was subsequently arrested in Aramoko-Ekiti, and a Lexus RX 350 vehicle was also recovered at the time of Michael’s arrest.
The CP, who said Michael admitted his involvement in the robbery, abduction, and murder of the students, also revealed that the landlord also confessed to masterminding the operation and recruited him and an accomplice known only as “Kola” (still at large) to carry out the crime.
He stated further that a sum of ₦800,000 was transferred from Abah’s account during their captivity while Michael also confessed to raping Okah before she was killed.
He said the suspect claimed that he killed the victims to prevent them from identifying him, as Okah had recognised him.
Acting on their confession, Lawal said his men later recovered Okah’s body from a bush near Ode-Ekiti.
According to him, “Her remains have been deposited at the General Hospital mortuary for autopsy, while efforts to recover Abah’s body, believed to have been dumped in a river, are ongoing.”
CP Lawal described the case as a tragic reminder of the brutality of premeditated crimes and the devastating consequences of betrayal and greed.
“The victims, young and promising undergraduates, were senselessly raped and murdered in cold blood. The Command will ensure that everyone involved is brought to justice,” he vowed.
