The father of Christiana Idowu, a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, has appealed to Nigerians for help, lamenting that one year after her murder, the case against the alleged killer, 23-year-old Ayomide Adeleye, appears stalled.

In August 2024, Christiana was abducted while travelling from her home in Itaoluwo, Ikorodu, to the University of Lagos, Yaba, where she was undertaking her industrial training.

The Lagos State Police Command later confirmed that the Nigerian Army handed over Adeleye, a 23-year-old philosophy student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, who confessed to killing Christiana after luring her to his home under the pretext of fixing her phone.

“I killed her because I had financial problems,” Adeleye was quoted as saying in his chilling confession.

The suspect also recounted strangling her and extorting N360,000 from her mother while pretending she was alive.

His arrest came after investigators traced his SportyBet account, where he uploaded his National Identification Number.

One year later, Idowu Oluwafemi, father of the deceased, has voiced his frustration over the lack of communication on the matter in a video obtained by PUNCH Online on Sunday.

“Hello Nigerians, I’m Mr. Idowu Oluwafemi, the father of Christiana Idowu, who was murdered by a friend.

“It’s getting to a year now and the boy was arrested in the police custody. I’ve not heard anything concerning the case,” he said.

Idowu described Christiana as a brilliant student and begged for public support.

“My daughter, she’s all that brilliant and I want you Nigerians to come to my aid. It’s a girl of 300 level in FUNAAB, and up to a year now I’ve not heard anything about a case.

“Please, I’m helpless, I’m in the dark, and I want you Nigerians to come to my aid and help me.

“Please, I can’t just allow a girl just to go like that. Please, Nigerians, come to my aid. I don’t know whether the guy has been released at the moment. Please, help me, kindly help me. Please, Nigerians,” the grieving father said.

Reacting to the video on Sunday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who was Lagos State Police Command spokesperson when the case was fresh, confirmed that Adeleye remained in custody, citing a January 2025 statement by the Nigerian Correctional Service.

Hundeyin confirmed that the suspect was duly remanded and that the matter was pending advice from the Department of Public Prosecution.

He pointed Nigerians to the Correctional Service clarification as proof that Adeleye had not been released.

In the January 6 release, the Nigerian Correctional Service dismissed claims that Adeleye was not in prison.

“A misleading report in some sections of the media concocting that an Awaiting Trial Person, Ayomide Adeleye, ‘is not in prison,’ has come to the attention of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

“The said inmate aged 23 years with Custody Number: S-1995/24 was remanded at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Kiri-kiri, Lagos, for offence of kidnapping and murder on the 26th September 2024 by Magistrate Court 13A, Ogba, Lagos state, and was produced to same court on 16 December, 2024.”

NCoS added that the presiding magistrate ordered Adeleye’s continued detention pending advice by the DPP, and stressed, “The Service wishes to categorically state that the said inmate is still in the custody of the MSCC Kirikiri, Lagos, as ordered by the court, against the information being peddled by the mischievous report.”

It also explained confusion with another inmate of a similar name, who had been discharged earlier in 2024, before warning journalists against spreading false news. (The PUNCH, bf headline rejigged)