In a swift response, the Lagos State Police Spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, has denied claim made by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), that confessed killer, Ayomide Adeleye, has been released and is not in any prison in the state.

It will be recalled that Ayomide Adeleye, a 200-level Philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State, was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command in September 2024, for the gruesome murder of Christianah Idowu, a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

On November 5, he was arraigned before Magistrate Seyi Omodara at the Ogba Magistrate Court, where she granted a remand warrant for his detention at the Ikoyi prison pending the availability of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) advice.

In its latest publication, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism asserted in its headline that “Ayomide Adeleye Not in Prison, and Was Never Remanded for Murder.”

Quoting an insider, the platform said: “The police handed him over to the Ikoyi Prison, but the judiciary is slow in its dealings. The warrant doesn’t expire, so I wonder how he secured release for a murder offence.

“There is no Ayomide Adeleye in any prison in Lagos. Maybe you should ask the police because they are the ones who obtained the remand warrant.”

FIJ added that efforts to get the information verified from either of the Lagos State Police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin or Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Public Relations Officer, proved abortive.

However, reacting to the publication on X, the Lagos State Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, clarified that a person with a similar name but charged with a different offense was released in April 2024, and not Ayomide, who was charged with murder.

His words: “We can confirm that Ayomide Adeleye was charged with murder and was remanded for the same offense.

“It is also a fact that another person bearing the same name was remanded for a different offense and released in April 2024, long before the Ayomide we are talking about committed his offense.

“An outfit that prides itself on investigation should live up to its name. Relying on ‘sources’ rather than the spokesperson of the Correctional Service would land you in this kind of misinformation.”