The Kwara State Police Command has arrested six suspects allegedly involved in the brutal killing of Ogungbenro Blessing, a female student of the College of Health and Technology in Offa, Kwara State.
The suspects were paraded by the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Victor Olaiya, at the Command Headquarters in Ilorin on Friday.
Among those arrested are Mr. and Mrs. Adebayo Adeniyi, the parents of the primary suspect, Adebayo Joshua Happiness, who is accused of luring 21-year-old Awesu Mojisola, a graduating student of the same college, to a hotel under false pretenses, where she was later murdered.
According to the Commissioner, the tragic incident began on August 9, 2024, when Mojisola received a call from a fellow student, Kolawola Timileyin, conveying a message from Happiness, an expelled student of Summit University, Offa.
Happiness had invited Mojisola to attend a purported sign-out party at Whitefield Hotel, Ilorin, with the promise of paying her N15,000.
Mojisola accepted the invitation and traveled from Offa to Ilorin that day. However, upon arriving at the hotel, she quickly became uneasy, realizing there was no party and finding herself alone in a room with Happiness, who was reportedly smoking cannabis. Mojisola contacted her friends to express her concerns, but soon after, she became unreachable, and her whereabouts were unknown.
Acting on a report filed by Ogungbenro Blessing, Mojisola’s roommate, the police launched an investigation that led to the arrest of Happiness. Preliminary findings revealed that he had lured Mojisola to the hotel with the intent to harm her.
At around 11:45 p.m., Happiness booked another room at the hotel, possibly as a cover-up for his actions. In the early hours of August 10, 2024, he allegedly murdered Mojisola, stole her iPhone and N15,600, and fled back to Offa, where he hid the stolen items.
Following Happiness’s arrest, his parents attempted to tamper with evidence by retrieving their son’s belongings from his school.
Mrs. Adeniyi Bukola, Happiness’s mother, was found to have removed the SIM card from Mojisola’s iPhone and concealed it. Despite Happiness’s initial claim that he discarded the phone in a river, the police recovered both the iPhone and SIM card from his parents’ possession.
Further investigation revealed that hotel staff, who discovered Mojisola’s body, had unlawfully disposed of it at a refuse dump. The staff members involved have also been apprehended and charged with criminal conspiracy and the destruction of evidence.
Commissioner Olaiya assured the public that the investigation is ongoing and that all suspects remain in custody. He emphasized the commitment of the Kwara State Police Command to ensuring justice and maintaining peace and security within the community.
The suspects will be charged to court upon the completion of the investigation.
Further updates will be provided as the case progresses.