The Niger State Police Command announced on Tuesday that Joy Afekafe, the primary suspect in the tragic demise of Funmilola Adefolalu, a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA), has been apprehended.
According to Wasiu Abiodun, the Command’s spokesperson, two additional individuals linked to the incident remain at large, but law enforcement is actively pursuing their arrest.
On the morning of October 29, 2023, at approximately 10:00 a.m., concerned friends and fellow church members of Adefolalu paid a visit to her residence in the Gbaiko neighborhood of Minna. This visit was prompted by their inability to reach her by phone.
“Unfortunately, on getting to the house, the visitors met her lying in a pool of blood with marks of injury on her body.
“Police operatives attached to Bosso Division visited the scene and two knives with blood stains suspected to have been used to stab her by unknown person(s) were recovered from the scene.
“She was taken to the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist (IBB) Hospital, Minna where she was confirmed dead,” Abiodun said.
He noted that during investigation, the police arrested the deceased’s housemaid, Ms Afekafe of Gbeganu, Minna on September 30 at about 9:00p.m.
Abiodun said the suspect told the police that she served as the deceased’s housemaid for about three weeks, adding that she was laid off due to her misdeed in the house.
According to him, Afekafe said she narrated her ordeal to her classmates called Walex and Smart and they conspired and attacked the FUTMINNA lecturer at her residence on September 28.
The police spokesman said that Walex and Smart beat the deceased, hit her head with a stool and stabbed her with a knife brought by Walex while Smart took another knife from the deceased’s kitchen, and stabbed her severally.
He said that the suspects also stole the deceased’s phone, laptop and the battery of a car parked in the compound and fled the scene.
Abiodun said the suspect would be transferred to State Crime Investigation Department for further investigation.
