How social media killed young Nigerian girl, Cynthia Okorogu

Cynthia Okorogu

The country’s first meeting with Cynthia Okorogu, the only daughter of General Frank Osokogu (rtd), was when she was declared missing by her family after they failed to get ahold of her. She was said to have left home for Lagos where she came to shop for her boutique in Nassarawa state. Sadly, she never made it back home alive as her corpse was later found in a mortuary in Lagos. Following police investigation, it was later discovered that Cynthia had been drugged with Rohypnol and killed by a ‘friend’ she met on a blackberry group.  

Like every normal person, I’m sure this incredibly beautiful girl had many dreams about making positive change in the world, but I’m also pretty sure one of them was not to be the face of the evils of social media.  RIP Cynthia! We also pray God will grant her family the strength to bear this irreparable loss.

Her story, like so many others, is a frontal warning that we should be careful in our interactions - physical or social. Social media is great but it can also be very dangerous as Cynthia's story has shown us. 

Continue for some details of Cynthia's story:

 

The investigation report revealed that:

Cynthia had been picked up at the airport by her blackberry ‘friend’ who had offered to host her whenever she came to Lagos to shop for her store. They had driven her to a hotel.

Cynthia was driven to a hotel where she was strangled to death by her assailants, who thereafter left with an undisclosed amount, her student identity card and phones.

According to reports, after her death, one of her assailants left the room and later put a call to the hotel management, informing them that there was a corpse in one of the rooms.

The hotel, as gathered, took the corpse to the Isolo General Hospital mortuary. Sources informed that efforts by the hoteliers to contact family of the deceased proved abortive as there was reportedly nothing to trace her close relatives or friends.

Back home in Nasarawa State, her family became worried when they could not contact her. They declared her missing and posted her pictures at various police stations.

How the suspects were arrested

It was gathered that after the murder, the killers deleted all information and chats with the deceased from their facebook. But, along the line, the deceased phone was dialled and one of the suspects reportedly answered. When the call log was checked from the service provider, the receiver was traced to Festac Town in the Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area.

Again, the Close Circuit Television stationed in the hotel was said to have revealed identities of the killers following which two of them were arrested and their confessional statement led to the arrest of others.

During interrogation, the suspects reportedly confessed to have bought the drugs with which they drugged Cynthia’s drink from a pharmacist, thereby leading to his arrest. It was at this point that her family was reportedly contacted. They stated that they injected the drugs into drinks offered the deceased.

The killers also confessed that the late Cynthia was not their first victim, but she was the first who had died. The spearhead of this tragedy, Echezona Nwabufor, a 300 level accounting student of University of Lagos, said he didn’t mean to kill Cynthia. His statement goes thus:

“It was a mistake; I never meant to kill her. I invited her from Abuja as my friend on July 21. I was trying to dislodge her by tying her hands and I hit her in the process. I tied her because I did not want her to know I was escaping from the hotel. We had a mutual agreement for her to come over. I met her from BB (blackberry) group chat. She came to buy some things for her boutique in Abuja. We had a disagreement. I did not rape her. It was the devil’s handwork.

I wanted to run because I knew I had committed a serious offence against her. I thought she had money on her that I can collect. So in the process, I tied her with cellotape to make her not to shout. I was not the only person, it was I and my cousin, Odera that did it. We tied her together and beat her together.
Yes, I invited her and in the process we felt like robbing her of all she had. The condom the police saw on me is what I used personally. I used it on her based on the sex toy with her. She came with a vibrator sex toy, so I inserted the condom on the sex toy and later dropped it there. I did not make love to her. If they test the condom forensically, it will prove that I did not use it on her.

I drugged her through Ribena drink. I bought three packets of Ribena and when she took it, she became weak. It was my cousin that drugged the drink; he used a syringe and administered ten tablets of it inside the drink.

This is the first time someone died in the process. I have done this say like, four times before now but none of the girls died. Whenever they take the drink, I will sleep with them and they will just lose memory of all that transpired. Usually, I use hotels in Festac. I have used Opera mini Hotel, Benny, Chelsea and Concilia. I feel bad because I did not bargain for this – to kill her in the first instance. It is just unfortunate and it was an accident,”

 

His 23year old accomplice/cousin Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka said:

“I am also an Accounting student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The morning it happened, my brother called me to come to the hotel to help him bind the girl so that he can dispossess her of her belongings.

My mission at the hotel was to come and help him bind the girl. In the process of trying to bind the girl, she put up struggle and we assaulted her and in the process, she passed out. I did not hit her with any hard object and we didn’t have any weapon with us. My brother only told me he wanted to take her money. I have not done it before. He asked me to buy the drink for him”.

 

Culled from (Vanguard / Linda Ikeji blog)