A Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday
Wednesday Sept 26th granted bail to two suspects arrested in connection
with the
alleged murder of Cynthia Osokogu. But the driver who was accused of
driving the prime suspect to Cosmilla Hotel, FESTAC, was remanded in
prison custody.
The suspects granted bail – Nonso Ezike
(22), who is the younger brother to Olisaeloka, one of the alleged
killers, and Ezeaka Chinonso (27) – were arrested by policemen at Area E
for receiving and selling Cynthia’s BlackBerry phone. Nonso’s lawyer, Mr. J. C Ngobili, told
the court that the accused was a student of the Federal University of
Technology, Owerri, and prayed the court to grant him bail in liberal
terms.
The Magistrate, Mr. P.A. Adekomaya,
admitted that although the offences were bailable, he pointed out that
the bail condition ought not to be too liberal in view of the
circumstances surrounding Cynthia's murder
He granted Nonso and Ezeaka bail in the
sum of N500,000 each with two sureties in like sum, adding that the
sureties must not be teachers or local government employees. He added
that the sureties could be bank tellers. The third accused person, Gideon
Okechukwu, a driver, was however charged with eight counts of murder,
rape, robbery, conspiracy, administering a harmful substance to the
deceased among others.
Okechukwu had told PUNCH Metro before he
was arraigned that he only drove the alleged killers from the area
where the hotel was situated, adding that he had no role in Cynthia’s murder. Okechukwu’s lawyer, Bello, prayed the
court to also grant the accused bail, adding that he had been held at
the State Criminal Investigation Department. The magistrate, who quickly interjected,
explained that it wasn’t within the jurisdiction of the court to grant
bail for such offences.
Okechukwu was remanded in Ikoyi Prison. The matter was adjourned till October 3, 2012.
The National Orientation Agency on Friday September 21st honoured the seven police who investigated and arrested the men who murderedCynthia Osokogu in a hotel in Festac in July 2012.
The seven police officers - ACP Damien Okoro, the Area Commander 'Festac',
DSP Imoh Gregory, Woman ASP Mariam Ogunmolasuyi, ASP Agbaje Yakubu,
Inspector Edo Joseph, Woman Sergeant Patience Biokoro and Sergeant Frank
Okorobon all of Area 'E' Festac, Lagos, were awarded 'NOA Civic
Recognition Award'.
The director general of NOA said the agency decided to honour the police
officers because they did an excellent job. The DG said:
The whole nation was gripped with anger, fear and rage when this
ugly, unfortunate incident occurred. These patriotic officers stuck out
their necks to unravel the mystery. What you did restored Nigeria to the
rest of the civilized world. You also restored some sort of succour to
the family by arresting those that committed the dastardly act. When
people are making such efforts, you must tell them they are doing well.
It is for this reason we are recognizing you".
The
last may not have been heard on the gruesome murder, in a Lagos hotel,
of Miss Cynthia Udoka Osokogu, the Delta State-born 2009 second
runner-up of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, MBGN, with the recent
recovery of her Black Berry, BB, mobile phone from a Port Harcourt-based
businessman. The middle-age man (names withheld) was
arrested by detectives attached to Area ‘E’ Command Festac Town, Lagos,
after the deceased’s BB pin number was retrieved from her father
This is also coming on the heels of the
discovery of a bizarre video recording of how Cynthia was allegedly
raped by her suspected killers. The video was seen in the laptop of the
suspects.
In the video, Cynthia’s face and
brutalised body was clearly shown being raped, while the faces of the
rapists were blurred. Apart from being tied and forcefully raped, the
rapists also bit her deeply and several times in her breasts, buttocks
and back .
Vanguard gathered that although Cynthia’s
BB has had all information pertaining to ownership of the handset
flashed-off in an attempt to make pass for a brand new phone, detectives
led by the Area Commander, ACP Daniel Okoro, were able to use the pin
number to get the number of the SIM Card of the current holder.
According to sources, one of the detectives
then put a call to the Port Harcourt-based business man to say that the
BB in his possession was a stolen one. Through the information on his registered
SIM Card and the receiving mast, detectives moved to Port Harcourt,
where his residence was located. But they did not meet him at home.
It was said that the phone buyer openly
admitted that he bought it through a friend in Lagos, adding that it was
sent to him through courier services. The source said: “When the detectives were
able to get the pin number from Cynthia’s father, they started work on
the theory that all the information contained in her handset may have
been deleted. “But with their knowledge of BB, they know
it can never have two pin numbers. So they started working on that
theory, and it bore fruits.”
This concerns the two pharmacists arrested in connection with Cynthia Osokogu's murder.
""The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN)
joins millions of Nigerians to empathize with the family of the late
Cynthia Osokogu who was lured by friends she met on facebook to Lagos
where she was brutalized and eventually killed.
We
also commend the Nigeria Police for the professional investigation that
led to the arrest of the two young men who admitted openly to have
committed the heinous crime."
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) is interested in a diligent
and focused investigation of this murder which continues to attract so
much interest from Nigerians to the extent that all found culpable will
be made to face the full weight of the law, while innocent people are
not unjustly arraigned, prosecuted and punished.
We note with concern the arraignment of two young Pharmacists who were
charged along with the confessed suspects for rape, armed robbery,
murder and administering of obnoxious substances. These are weighty
charges that reflect the gravity of the offences that led to the death
of this promising lady. We at Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN)
indeed perceive this loss as a great one to the Osokogus, friends,
colleagues and all Nigerians.
The PSN after a critical appraisal of all issues at stake wishes to reflect thus:
1) Pharmacists as responsible professionals and as legitimate custodians
of medicines would continue to champion safe, responsible and rational
use of medicines in Nigeria. Our projects and programmes in the last few
years have always been geared towards the promotion of safe use of
medicines. Having said this, it is important to realize that all
medicines are poisons with inherent tendencies for abuse and misuse.
Pharmacists have always exercised due diligence, caution and
professional judgment in dispensing and sales of medicines. But beyond
this, it is difficult to know what a person intends to do or does with
the medicine after purchase especially for a premeditated criminal act
that involved use of chains, padlocks, tape and other dangerous weapons.
Information available to us indicate:
a. Pharmacist Chukwunonso Maduakor was on duty in Oxpharm in the morning
of Monday August 20, 2012. A gentleman approached him and requested to
buy Rohypnol. Nonso asked him for a prescription and he said he does not
have one. The gentleman begged and pleaded with him that he really
needed it with paracetamol. Pharm. Nonso considered his request on
compassionate grounds and dispensed to him one (1) card of 10 tablets of
flunitrazapam along with one (1) card of Paracetamol. The gentleman
goes out of the pharmacy, and then came in again with other persons,
arrested Nonso and accused him of selling drug without prescription.
They then took him to the Police station, he made statement and was
detained for six (6) days in Festac Police Area Command. On the 7th day
they transferred him to Panti from where he was taken to a Magistrate
Court and was charged for conspiracy, murder, armed robbery, rape and
administering obnoxious substances to Miss Cynthia Osokogu who was
killed by two known persons a month earlier in July 2012.
b. The second Pharmacists, Pharm. Osita Orji is a Locum Pharmacist with
Oxpharm and works evening shifts. The police visited Oxpharm on 21
August 2012 and requested to see Osita. When he got to the station, they
alleged that he was the Pharmacist on duty when the suspected killer of
Cynthia claimed they bought Rohypnol from Oxpharm. Osita made statement
that he did not know the murderers, could not recall meeting them or
selling Rohypnol to them and if they ever bought the Rohypnol from him
while on duty that they must have presented him with a prescription.
Osita was detained in Festac Police Area Command for two (2) days, then
transferred to Panti from where he was taken to a Magistrate Court and
charged
2) If the liability of the two pharmacists is limited to the sales or
alleged sales of rohypnol to clients they do not know and never
collaborated with in this condemnable crime then it is logical to
believe that at best there might have been breaches of professional
ethics. The law provides that such matters are dealt with by the
Pharmacists Council of Nigeria a regulatory agency of the Federal
Government established by Cap. P.17 LFN 2004.
3) The drug in question Rohypnol is an intermediate acting benzodiazepam
similar to diazepam (valium), nitrazepam (swidon) and bromazepam
(lexotan).
Rohypnol is the brand name of the medicine flunitrazepam and is one of
the benzodiazepine class of sedatives or tranquilizer drugs, of which
valium or diazepam is perhaps the best known. It is used in the
management of anxiety and sleep disorders (short term treatment of
insomnia).
Rohypnol is made by Roche in Switzerland, registered with NAFDAC (Reg.
No: 04 ? 0150) and distributed in Nigeria by Swipha Nigeria Ltd. It is
not a rare drug as being reported. It is available in Nigeria.
4) The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) counsels Nigerians to
monitor the use of internet facilities by youths and children
particularly because of volume and nature of information available.
5) We urge the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the
Ministry of Justice in Lagos State to immediately review the cases of
these pharmacists with a view to advising the relevant authorities on
how best to tackle this matter and to ensure that the innocent is not
persecuted albeit unjustly.
CONCLUSION
Gentlemen of the Press, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN)
assures Nigerians that it will continue to work with stakeholders
including relevant regulatory agencies to evolve a National Strategy
that will improve the use of medicines in Nigeria. In line with this,
the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has dedicated September 25,
2012 to continue the dialogue on safe medicines by collaborating with
the National Human Rights Commission, Regulatory Agencies, Media and
other stakeholders.
One of the salient lessons inherent in the discourse is that our youth
while trusting must verify the relationship they make through the social
media given the abuse potential.
Once again, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the entire Osokogu
family. We pray that God will grant the family the fortitude to bear
this loss.
Thank you.
Azubike Okwor FPSN,FPCPHARM,FFIP
President
August 30, 2012
The management of Cosmilla Hotel located at Lake View Estate, Amuwo
Odofin, Festac Town Extension, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, has sacked some
workers over their alleged complicity in the murder of Cynthia Osokogu. The
hotel is where the daughter of a retired army general, Frank Osokogu,
was cruelly murdered by her facebook friends last month.
It was gathered that the sack was in connection with the way the suspects who
are now facing murder charge at a Lagos court lodged in the hotel
without proper record. The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer,
Ngozi Braide, told journalists that the suspects checked into the hotel
with fictitious names to mask their identity probably because of the
crime they were going to commit.
P.M.NEWS gathered from
the police that the suspects lodged in the hotel with fake identity and
that was why it was difficult for the police at Area ‘F’ in Festac
initially to trace them after the dastardly act. The police had to
track them through their sim cards and girlfriends.
When P.M.NEWS
visited the hotel yesterday, some of the staff confirmed that the
workers who were on duty on the day the incident happened have been
sacked.
They explained that the procedure in booking for
accommodation in the hotel is that a guest must present his identity
card or complimentary card or passport before he/she can be given
accommodation. But in this particular case, that procedure was not
followed.
They said the sacked workers could not explain why the process was not followed. When P.M.NEWS
contacted the manager, Victor Ugokwe, he confirmed that new workers
have been employed to replace the sacked ones.He declined to say much on
the matter and referred our reporter to the police for further
information .
Miss Cynthia Osokogu will be buried on the 7th
of September at Bebe, Ovia Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of
Delta State, her family has announced. They made this known yesterday in
Jos while speaking to journalists. May her soul rest in perfect peace.
Amen
They were slammed with an eight-count charge of murder, armed robbery,
administering the late Cynthia with obnoxious substance known as
Rohyenol via Ribena fruit drink, among others.
According to the charge, the suspects also had unlawful sexual
intercourse with the victim without her consent.
Their plea was not taken. The court ordered that they should be remanded in prison custody and their file duplicated for DPP’s advice.
The matter was adjourned till 3 October, 2012. Cynthia Osokogu, the only daughter of retired Major Frank Osokogu, was a
post graduate student and boutique owner based in Nassarawa State.
She met the undergraduates, who later murdered her, through Facebook.
The principal suspects, Ezike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka, 23, and Okwumo Echezona Nwabufor, 33, confessed to the police that they lured her to
Lagos from her base in Nassarawa State under the pretext that they are
also into clothing business.
After receiving her at the Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos, they took
her to a hotel in Festac Town.
Eloka said they later put Rohyenol tablet in her Ribena drink and when
they discovered that Cynthia did not have a lot of money on her as they
earlier presumed, they raped her for 12 hours and later strangled her. Following the arrest and subsequent parade of Olisaeloka and his
cousin, Nwabufor, over the murder of Cynthia, three more ladies came
forward, saying they were once victims of the alleged murderers. The three women reportedly went to Festac Police Command to write a
statement about how they were drugged, raped and robbed by the suspects
now facing trial
The parents of slain Cynthia Osokogu have described the death of their
only daughter as devastating, illogical and highly incomprehensible
saying though vengeance belongs to God, those who perpetrated the
dastardly act should be brought to book so as to deter those who take
pleasure in killing innocent people at will.
Speaking at their ECWA Staff new GRA home at Farin-Gada area of Jos, the
parents in separate interview to newsmen further described the late
Masters Degree student as a very intelligent girl who was not playing
pranks but had a promising future, full of life. According
to the father, Major-General Frank Osokogu (rtd), the dead of their
daughter though painful and shocking has not been in vain as it is a
caution to youths who get to know friends on social media of whatever
name and venture to meet the unknown people. Osokogu described the daughter’s action as an adventure which was a bit too much.....
However, the mother, Chief (Mrs.) Joyrita Osokogu who said she had been
of fasting since their daughter went missing disclosed that she had some
worry because the daughter was too fast in life and accomplished so
much in her young age that she had to caution her on the need to settle
down in marriage.
According to her, “My daughter had been very wonderful and intelligent,
she attended Command Secondary School, Jos where she won many laurels
and she graduated from Nassarawa State University with good grades at
the age of 21 and she read English Education.
“She was Miss NYSC Batch ‘B’ 2010; she was a queen as she was a
runner-up in Miss Nigeria 2010 which she participated. She was studying
Public Administration in her Masters programme and just finished her
exam before she met her untimely death”. The late Cynthia was working with the just folded up MTN call centre in
Jos and was running her boutique, Dress Code in Keffi in Nassarawa
State.
She stated that Cynthia was not living a rough life and she was urging
her to think about getting married and she promised she will introduce
her fiancé to the parents very soon. Both parents confirmed they did not know about their daughter’s death on
time as her killers took her phone and kept promising them that she was
in a hospital which they gave the name as Symbol hospital in Benin but
the hospital turned out to be a fake one.
Her killers eventually told the family of Cynthia’s death and the MTN
assisted the family in the tracking the area where the calls were made
from to Festac town in Lagos. They said it was when friends whom she told of her trip to Lagos to get
her goods did not see her return on the appointed day that they got
worried and called the family. Meanwhile, Miss Patience John, the sales girl who assisted the late
Cynthia in her boutique described her late boss as very humane and
always treat her well.
A condolence register has been opened in her family home and
sympathizers who had one good thing or the other to say about her were
seen signing the register.
Mother of the Cynthia Osokogu, the 24 year old lady murdered in a Festac
hotel by her Facebook/BB friends said the men had demanded N20million
from her. Her words below:
On Sunday July 22nd, she called me to tell me that she had arrived Lagos to collect some goods that had just arrived from overseas and promised to come and see me immediately she arrived from Lagos. So when she did not call me on the day she was supposed to arrive, I called her number and it wasn't going. At the time I called my husband who lives in Abuja and my senior son to intimate them of what as happening. So I went to the police to complain. But when we called the number again, it was going and someone picked it up and said she would come back; that we couldn't speak with her because she was in the hospital.
They told me she was in Symbol hospital in Benin. It turned out to be a fake hospital. Then when we called again, they said they had kidnapped her and demanded for N20million. They sent me a fake account number. I told them that you people said we should send N20 million but the account number they sent to me was a fake one. Not until two weeks later they now told me that I should not bother to call again, that she had been killed. It was after this that I declared her missing.
A
model, yesterday, showed up at the headquarters of Lagos State Police
Command 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.
The lady, whose identity could not be ascertained, arrived the Police
Command at noon, demanding to speak only with the Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Umar Manko. She was directed to the CP’s waiting room before being ushered to the CP’s office, where she described herself as a model. She reportedly told the CP that she was at the Command in respect of the
suspects. She 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.” Meanwhile, when Vanguard, yesterday, visited hotel in Lake View Estate,
where the post-graduate student of Nassarawa State University met her
sudden end, no one could offer explanation. Rather, a private security guard claimed that none of the managers was around, and referred the reporter to the Police.
People are so wicked in this world. Some things I hear is so unimaginable. How people find it so easy to shed human blood makes my eyes shed blood instead of tears. May these two demons be given the punishment they deserve. May her soul rest in peace. Amen
According to PM News.....
Two murder suspects who were paraded today by
the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, Echezona Nwabufor, 33, and
Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka, 23, have narrated how they drugged the
daughter of a retired General, Miss Cynthia Akuzogwu Udoka, 25, and
strangled her in order to steal her money.
One
of the suspects, Eloka, said they killed Cynthia because they thought
she had a lot of money in her possession. But after the dastardly act,
they did not find a reasonable amount of money on her.
According to the suspects, “we met her on the facebook on our
Blackberry. We invited her to come to Lagos to buy goods at cheap
prices.
“When she got to Lagos, we took her to a hotel in Festac. We thought she
had a lot of money, but she said she didn’t have any money. We gave her
Reflon tablet in her Ribena drink. After this, we slept with her for 12
hours in that hotel. We discovered that the tablet did not work quickly
on her.
“We then attacked her, tied her up and used cellotape to cover her
mouth. After that, we beat her to tell us where she kept the money. “When we didn’t get any money from her, we tied her mouth and strangled her and then we abandoned her in the hotel and fled.”
The suspects and the General’s daughter became friends on Facebook and were exchanging messages and phone calls. She told them she was coming to Lagos. They met her at Murtala Muhammed
Airport, Ikeja from where they ushered her into a hotel in Festac town,
Lagos.
Briefing journalists on how policemen were able to arrest the suspects,
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Abubakar Manko, said detectives
made use of the close circuit television, CCTV, at the hotel where the
crime was committed to identify them.
The Area Commander, Area ‘E’ Police Command, ACP Okoro added that the
suspects who are undergraduates of Nigerian universities were nabbed
through the call logs of the telephone conversations they had with the
late Cynthia who was a post graduate student of Nasarawa State
University.
After the suspected killers strangled Cynthia, her corpse was deposited at the mortuary of Isolo General Hospital in Lagos. ACP Okoro stated that many ATM cards, about 23 SIM cards, different identity cards were recovered from the suspects.
Police sources said the two suspects will soon be arraigned in court to answer a charge of murder.
Miss
Cynthia Udoka Osokogu, a post graduate student of Nasarawa State
University, has been missing since the 24th of July. She reportedly
traveled to Lagos in July and hasn't been heard from since then. She's
the daughter of Major General Frank Osokogu RTD.
Please call this number (08035960839) or the nearest police station if
you have seen or heard from her, or if you have any information about
where she might be.
