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Summary
On August 19, 2024, 23-year-old Ayomide Adeleye kidnapped and murdered his female friend Ayomide Adeleye. He then taunted her parents and extorted over N350,000 from them. Ayomide is one of the men who derails feminists' conversations about femicide with comments like “Humans are not evil not male.”
The arrest of 23-year-old Ayomide Adeleye, a Philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University, for the shocking kidnap and murder of 21-year-old Christiana Idowu has highlighted Nigeria’s growing epidemic of femicide.
Christiana went missing on August 19, 2024, after her parents received messages from her captor using her WhatsApp account. The abductor, identified as Ayomide Adeleye, demanded a ransom of N1,500,000. Her parents raised N350,000, which was sent to a betting account as instructed. Despite sending the money and complying with further demands, communication from Adeleye stopped, raising concerns.
Investigations revealed that Ayomide laundered money through Christiana’s account and used the betting account to withdraw funds. Security operatives traced his movements through phone tracking and discovered a close relationship between Adeleye and Christiana via their social media interactions. He was eventually apprehended in his parents’ home in Ikorodu, Lagos, where damning evidence was found, including Christiana’s phone.
Upon arrest on September 5, 2024, Ayomide confessed to killing Christiana and burying her body at his family’s residence. Disturbingly, it was also uncovered that Adeleye had previously been involved in the murder of his girlfriend and sister, further illustrating the rise of male violence against women in the country.
Christiana’s death marked the 76th known femicide case in Nigeria in 2024. Femicide, men’s intentional killing of women because of their gender, is an escalating crisis across Africa. Victims often suffer in silence, and many of these crimes go unreported.
“From our research, we’ve recorded 76 cases of women and girls murdered by intimate partners, relatives, or acquaintances in Nigeria this year alone. These killings often result from minor disputes or rejections, highlighting deep-rooted gender inequality,” Ololade Ajayi, founder of DOHS Cares Foundation, said.
Ololade described the situation as a “pandemic” and criticised the Nigerian justice system for failing to hold perpetrators accountable. Her foundation has submitted a bill to both the Lagos State and National Assemblies to combat femicide and push for stricter legal penalties.
Social media has exploded with outrage under the hashtag #JusticeForChristiana, urging authorities to take more decisive action to protect women from male violence.
Femicide has reached unprecedented levels across Africa, with Nigeria witnessing a surge. In 2022, the continent reported the highest global rate of femicide. Systemic failures, weak legal enforcement, and cultural norms contribute to the increasing violence against women.
Some of the femicide in 2024 across Nigeria:
On April 27, 2024, Onipede Dare stabbed his wife Kumapayi Arinola to death in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, over accusations of infidelity.
In April 2024, Lukman Adejoju, a 63-year-old man from Osun State, was reported to have murdered his 100-year-old mother, Aminat, over a disagreement related to palm oil sales.
In May 2024, Frank Geng Quarong, a Chinese national, pushed Ocheze Ogbonna, an operator at Inner Galaxy Steel Company, to death for rejecting his romantic advances. The incident happened in Abia State.
In July 2024, a 23-year-old man named Samson reportedly stabbed his elderly mother to death in Obiaruku, Delta State.
On the ongoing prosecution of Ayomide Adeleye over the murder of Christianna, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed that military personnel handed Ayomide to the Lagos Police. Investigations are ongoing.
“We must move beyond social media outrage to real legal reforms and societal change. Women’s lives depend on it,” social media commentator Ajayi said.
The disturbing trend of Nigerian men killing women reminds the nation that urgent action is required to combat male violence against women and keep women in the country safe.
