Another victim of Cynthia’s killers shows up

Lagos CP, Umar Manko. Image: Daily Independent

Another victim of the killers of Cynthia Osokogu has gone to the police. This confirms the confession of the killers that at least four other ladies have suffered in their hands.

One of the men, Nwabufo Okwumo, according to The Nation which interviewed neighbours, wore expensive suits and designer shirts, lived in a duplex in FESTAC and drove a posh car without any visible means of livelihood.

The lady who stepped forward yesterday, a model went straight to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police in Ikeja, claiming she was a victim of the two undergraduates, who confessed to have killed Cynthia, the only daughter of Gen. Frank Osokogu(rtd), in a hotel located in Lake View Estate in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

According to the Vanguard , the lady said the two undergraduates, Nwabufo Okwumo, and his cousin, Odera Ezekiel, were the same persons that dispossessed her of her belongings in a hotel in Festac.

However, Vanguard could not get a detailed account of her ordeal in the hands of the suspects, as the CP was said to have immediately directed her to the Area E Commander, Mr. Dan Okoro, who led the team of investigators that uncovered the suspects’ activities.

When contacted, the Command’s boss confirmed the visit, explaining that he directed her to the Commander so that she could physically identify the suspects. He called on other females, who had fallen victims to show up.

He said: “Other victims are advised to show up so that if there is any need to expand our investigation, we will do so.”

The other people who killed Cynthia

Murdered: Cynthia Udoka Osokogu

It is understandable that there is outrage against the youths, Nwabufo Okwumo and Ezike Olisaeloka who violated the sanctity of trust and cold-bloodedly murdered Cynthia Osokogu, an impressionable young friend they met via Blackberry Messenger. And they didn’t kill her for rituals or as a result of a grudge they bore her. They killed her solely for her money!

The general feeling of most people is that justice should be quickly dispensed and the self-confessed killers dispatched to the other world that they have sent Cynthia into unprepared.

These are all justified feelings. Indeed, at times like this, one wishes there were no lawyers in Nigeria to complicate the case by coaching the killers to plead not guilty and add some years to the life span of a case that could otherwise have been dealt with within a week.

But away from all this, this incident must force us to reflect upon the monsters we are breeding among the young generation with the unconscionable glorification of money and material wealth. Our musicians sing about nothing else these days beside money and how much of it they have. Some devote entire tracks to boasting about how rich they are. The little kids know Moet, Hennessy and the names of other expensive drinks that their parents cannot afford just by listening to our local musicians.  

Our music artistes cannot string together an intelligible line of lyrics without throwing in boasts about the money they have in local and foreign accounts, the expensive cars they ride and all the mighty mansions they have in Nigeria and abroad.

Music videos, including the ones shot by an aspiring musician from the seediest recess of Ajegunle parade young men flashing dollars and rolling around in borrowed expensive cars, filled with scantily-clad women. The ones who call themselves gospel artistes fill the airwaves with songs of their desire to ride a Bentley, and not a word of how they can honestly and diligently earn it.

The pastors preach nothing else but material wealth, and openly eulogise earthly possessions and those who have been successful at acquiring them at the expense of hard work, personal improvement or capacity building.

Add all these to the street-level daily exhibition of obscene opulence by people who do not have any visible means of livelihood and you have a flourishing colony of Nwabufo Okwumos and Ezike Olisaelokas, who literally cannot wait to be rich.

In essence, the undeclared accomplices of those two evil boys are many and scattered across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

There is urgent need to stop the slide. The government can help by putting in place a tax system that severely taxes ostentation. If as an artiste, a captain of industry or high-lying professional, you are rich enough to purchase a N30 million car, you should be able to pay a tax of N10 million on it to the government to provide amenities for everybody.

We should also develop the culture of questioning unexplained wealth and find a way to encourage more responsible attitude among the so called role models in the creative industries.

May God help Nigeria.

We drugged, beat General’s daughter before her death – Suspects

The suspects. Inset: Items recovered from them.
| credits: Eniola Akinkuotu

The suspects who allegedly killed Cynthia Osokogu, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Frank Osokogu (retd.), on July 22, 2012, have admitted that they drugged and beat the 24-year-old girl before she died.

The suspects – Nwabuzo Okumo and Odera Ezekiel – described the incident as a mistake. They claimed that they only wanted to rob her and flee from the hotel before things went awry.

Okumo, a 300-level Accounting student of the University of Lagos, said he met the deceased on BlackBerry Messenger and established a relationship with her before inviting her to Lagos.

He said, “We met through a group on BlackBerry Messenger. We had formed a kind of friendship online.

“When she told me that she was coming to Lagos to buy some goods for her boutique in Abuja, I invited her to Casmillo Hotel, Amuwo Odofin, where an incident led to her death. It was not planned that way. It was a big mistake.

“She arrived in Lagos from Abuja on Sunday, July 21 and I took her to the hotel. I gave her a pack of Ribena juice, which had been injected with a drug I use on women that makes them dizzy, weak and wipes their memory afterwards. I have used the drugs on four girls but it did not kill them.

“I stayed in the room with her for about 12 hours. We talked; I used a vibrator (sex toy) on her. I noticed that she did not drink all the juice and so the drug was not as effective as expected.

“I had no choice than to engage her in a struggle. I had to tie her so that she would not be able to follow me after robbing her.”

However, Ezekiel, a 400-level student of Accounting at the Anambra State University, said he was called by Okumo to help him tie up the girl. He said it was when Cynthia was struggling with them that they beat her up before chaining her.

He said he gave Okumo two packs of Ribena juice that were injected with 10 tablets of xxx.

He said, “I didn’t know the victim. The morning it happened, he (Okumo), said I should come and help him bind the girl because he wanted to steal her belongings. In the process of binding her, she was struggling so we had to beat her up and it was in the process that she passed out. We used our hands in beating her; we did not use any weapon.

“She was still breathing as at the time I left the hotel.”

While parading the suspects, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Umar Manko, said the suspects specialise in luring young ladies and robbing them. He added that it was unclear if the boys killed their previous victims or not.

“The young lady was found dead and chained in a room in the hotel. Someone called the hotel reception and said, ‘Go and get the dead body of a bastard from your room’. When the lady was found, her identity could not be ascertained,” he said.

It was learnt that a yellow card belonging to the victim was found in the hotel room. From the card, he said the police called immigration authorities and got the passport number and details of the victim.

Manko said, “Her identity was not known but from the telephone number used in calling the hotel, we started our investigations until we got her passport number through the Immigration Service and were able to establish her identity.

“Through CCTV footage, we discovered that two young men entered into her room. We were able to trace the suspects through the phone number that called the hotel.”

Our correspondent learnt that the police initially arrested Ezekiel’s girlfriend. She aided them in apprehending Ezekiel who had run to Anambra State.

Punch Metro learnt that Ezekiel then led the police to Okumo in FESTAC.

Manko said, “The boys are cousins and both are from Anambra State. We’ve been told that this is not their first time but we’ve not been able to able to establish if they always kill their victims. It’s a very long investigation and it’s still ongoing.

“The case is a lesson to people using social networks to be very careful. The suspects will be charged to court for murder.”

The CP however added that no employee of the hotel was involved in the crime.

The items recovered from the suspects are seven driving licences (three belonging to Ezekiel, four belonging to Okumo with different names); the deceased’s belongings, including her shoes(found in Okumo’s house); 17 mobile phones, two Diamond Bank rubber stamps, two syringes, a pack of Ribena, 22 SIM cards, a chain, 12 debit and credit cards.

Students strangled General's missing daughter

Stranguled: Cynthia Osukogwu

The up and coming generation has mastered the evil of the outgoing generation. What a shame!

 Those who murdered Cynthia Osokogu are students, according to a report by Punch this morning.

The lady would probably have suspected older men of sinister motives, but would have seen these hoodlums as contemporaries, fellow pilgrims of the digital age. Little did she know that while they spoke the language of Facebook, Twitter and BBM, their feet were are planted firmly in the rotten past of their progenitors.

According to The Punch, Cynthia, the only daughter of Major General Frank Osokogu (retd), who reportedly went missing on July 22, 2012, was strangled in a hotel by students in FESTAC, Lagos.

A senior police officer, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the case, said the deceased was drugged, bound hand and foot and then strangled by her assailants.

 Osokogu, who was a postgraduate student in Nasarawa, came to Lagos to purchase goods for her boutique.

 The deceased was received at the Murtala Muhammed Airport by the students, who later took her to the hotel.

 The deceased’s family is based in Jos but she went to her friend’s place in Abuja, where she parked her car before leaving for Lagos.

 But the police source said on getting to the hotel, the students used a powerful drug to paralyse her and robbed her of her valuables, including an undisclosed sum of money.

The   source said, “According to the confession obtained from two of the suspects, they met the deceased on the internet and lured her to Lagos to purchase goods at a cheaper rate.

 “On getting to the airport in Lagos, the suspects took her to a hotel, drugged her, and bound her by hand and foot. They confessed to inflicting pains on her and strangling her before stealing her money, phone and identity card.

 “The suspects confessed that their modus operandi is to lure young females to Lagos for such purpose. They said they had done it before.”

Our source said when Osokogu’s corpse was discovered by employees of the hotel, the matter was reported to the police but because her phones and identity card had been stolen, there was no way the police could ascertain her identity so her corpse was moved to Isolo General Hospital.

Our source said there were indications that an employee of the unnamed hotel was complicit and had been arrested.

He added that the pharmacist, who gave the rare drug which was used to paralyse the deceased, had been arrested as well and was suspected to be a member of the syndicate.

 The police source said the case was reported at the Area E command a few weeks ago but the police only began to make headway recently when they received CCTV footage of the suspects entering the room with the victim.

 The source said the police embarked on an undercover operation which led them to Ogun State to arrest one of the suspects.

 “The last suspect was arrested at about 3am on Tuesday and we have almost completed investigations. However, only two of the suspects have confessed,” the source said.

 When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she could not comment on the issue.

 She said, “The Commissioner of Police for the state Police command, Mr. Umar Manko, will hold a press briefing on Wednesday (today) on the issue.

 “The girl was killed but all details will be disclosed during the briefing,” she said