A 30-year-old private school teacher, Nathaniel Baiyegun, has been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command over the alleged abduction and killing of a 16-year-old WASSCE candidate, Florence Adegbaaju, after reportedly collecting N500,000 ransom from her family.
The suspect, who reportedly taught Physics and Further Mathematics at a private school in Ogijo, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, was said to have lured the teenager to a coaching class before detaining her in an uncompleted building.
Police sources said Baiyegun allegedly reconnected with the teenager months after she left his former school and persuaded her to attend his WAEC and JAMB coaching program.
Investigators further alleged that the suspect attempted to force the girl into a relationship with one of his friends identified simply as Sola before the incident spiraled into abduction and eventual death.
According to findings by detectives, the suspect allegedly administered several doses of sleeping tablets to the teenager while keeping her in captivity.
The police said he later used the victim’s phone to demand N3 million ransom from her family, an amount that was eventually negotiated down to N500,000.
In a confessional statement, Baiyegun claimed the death was accidental.
He reportedly admitted that after returning to the building where the girl was held, he discovered she was gasping for breath and panicked.
The suspect confessed to transporting the victim on a motorcycle before dumping her body in a river around the MTN area in Ogijo.
He also admitted spending most of the ransom money on online sports betting after misleading the victim’s father into believing she would still be released.
The suspect further claimed that the fake kidnap plot was initially planned to extort money from the family. However, investigators believe the operation turned deadly after the teenager was allegedly drugged while in captivity.
The Ogun State Police Command said operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit arrested the suspect after intelligence-led operations.
Police spokesperson DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi described the arrest as a major breakthrough in the command’s ongoing crackdown on kidnapping and violent crimes across the state.
He assured residents that the command would continue intensifying efforts to dismantle criminal syndicates and urged members of the public to support security agencies with credible information.
