There have been growing calls for justice and fairness following the arrest of a 30-year-old private school teacher, Nathaniel Baiyegun, over the alleged killing of a 16-year-old West African Senior School Certificate Examination candidate, Florence, in Ogun State.
According to police sources, the suspect allegedly lured the teenager under the pretext of attending an academic coaching class before abducting her and demanding ransom from her family.
Investigators disclosed that the suspect reportedly collected N500,000 from the victim’s father after allegedly misleading the family into believing the teenager was still alive. He later confessed that he spent most of the money on online sports betting.
Police sources further alleged that Baiyegun had reconnected with the teenager months after she left his former school and allegedly attempted to introduce her to a friend identified simply as Sola for a relationship.
The suspect was said to have kept the teenager in an uncompleted building, where he allegedly administered multiple doses of D5 sleeping tablets after she complained of fear and sleeplessness.
Preliminary investigations also reportedly linked the suspect to internet fraud activities, while detectives alleged that he had at one point requested nude photographs from the deceased.
The victim’s body was later allegedly dumped in a river in the Ogijo area after the suspect reportedly discovered that she was gasping for breath.
In a confessional statement obtained by investigators, Baiyegun admitted that he knew the deceased through his work as a teacher in a private school in Ogijo.
He explained that although they became close, he denied having any romantic relationship with her.
According to him, they reconnected earlier this year after meeting during a content creation session for his Instagram page. He said the teenager informed him that she intended to rewrite her WASSCE after failing Mathematics and English in her previous examination.
The suspect stated that he later invited her to his new school premises, where he introduced her to his friend, Sola.
He alleged that after meeting with Sola, the teenager requested transport fare from him, but he had no money. He claimed they subsequently agreed to stage a fake kidnap operation to extort money from her family.
“I used her phone to negotiate ransom with her father and demanded N3 million. After she complained that she could not sleep in the uncompleted building, I gave her D5 sleeping tablets,” the suspect reportedly stated.
Baiyegun further confessed that upon returning from an event days later, he discovered the victim gasping for breath and subsequently transported her to a river area, where he dumped her body.
He also admitted that after receiving N500,000 ransom from the victim’s father, he continued deceiving the family by promising that their daughter would soon be released.
“I spent almost all the money on online sports betting, and I regret it now,” he reportedly confessed.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage, with many Nigerians demanding thorough investigation, justice for the deceased, and stricter monitoring of interactions between teachers and students.
Reacting to the development, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, CSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, urged residents to remain cautious about the company they keep while assuring the public that investigations were ongoing.
