Concluding excerpts from the story that has gripped the attention of a nation.
*** Cynthia Udoka Osokogu Was Killed By Her Facebook Friends In Lagos ***
24 Year Old Cynthia Osokogu left Abuja in late July 2012 (According to
reports, on the 22nd of July 2012). Like many promising young Nigerians, she combined academic pursuits with commercial enterprise. The post-graduate student of Nasarawa State University was a clothing
retailer and had travelled to Lagos to purchase new stock.
Cynthia had been chatting with some new “friends” on Facebook for a few
months. In the course of their conversations, they developed a
friendship and a level of trust. These young men were also university
students, they seemed normal and promised to host Cynthia when she came
to Lagos.
There is speculation that they paid for her plane
ticket and promised to pay for her hotel as well. Only Cynthia knows if
this is true. Whatever the truth is, Cynthia trusted her new friends and
had no idea that they had sinister plans.
What we know is
that, these 2 young men picked Cynthia up from the airport in Lagos and
drove her to a hotel in Festac. At the hotel, they tied her up, robbed
her of all the money she brought to shop for her business and strangled
her to death. They then left the hotel and quickly deleted her from
their facebook friend list to remove any trace of their connection.
The hotel found her body and since her ID cards and mobile phone had
been stolen, they could not identify her or call friends and family. Her
body was deposited in a morgue in Lagos. All this time, her family and
friends were praying for her safe return.
How the Killers Were
Caught at some point, one of the culprits accidentally answered
Cynthia’s phone and the call was traced to Festac. Therefore, her
missing person’s police report was submitted to the Area E Command in
Festac. This enabled her family to find her body in the morgue and also
led them to the hotel.
Using CCTV from the hotel, the killers
were identified. According to reports, these two young men are
university students who have now confessed that they killed Cynthia and
she is their sixth victim – the gang reportedly specializes in luring
unsuspecting young women, robbing them of their possessions before
killing them.
Though there is speculation that their motive was
ritualistic, it appears that it was greed and their main goal was to
rob and kill. The pharmacist who supplied the drugs used on Cynthia and
hotel staff have also been arrested. According to Police spokesperson
Ngozi Braide, “Six people were arrested on Sunday over the incident and
investigations are ongoing”.
As you can see, Cynthia is one of
Nigeria’s numerous social media generation girls (with BB and a facebook
account), this unfortunately led to her demise. It is a warning that no
matter what we should be very careful with things and people. As the late great John Kennedy said, "Trust but verify". It is common to say young ladies hop in to exotic cars without asking the source of the wealth.
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