Suspected rapists strangle UTME candidate to death

Joan Egemba a 20-year-old UTME candidate is no more after she was stabbed and strangled to death by suspected rapists in the Ijebu Igbo area of Ogun State after leaving her home for the National Open University of Nigeria centre in Awa Ijebu where she was posted to write the exam.

Reports say Joan was captured by suspected rapists at about 12pm on the 3rd of March around the Ijebu Oru junction area of Ogun State which is a few metres away from her examination centre where she was posted to sit for the exam the next day.

The corpse of the 20-year-old was found in a bush at the back of a secondary school located in Ijebu Igbo with lacerations on her thighs.

Speaking about the last time he was in contact with his daughter, Emmanuel Egemba, father of the late Joan and a retired Assistant Superintendent of Nigerian Customs said; “On that Thursday, she left home around 12.30pm, but the bus she boarded at Sango to the centre left around 2pm. She called at 5.30pm that she had arrived there, but the security man at the centre did not open the gate for her and others to pass the night on the premises. I told her to find a place in the area till the following day when she would sit for the exam.

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“Around 7pm, I called her again and she said the security man had opened the gate for them. One hour after, I called again but she did not pick her calls. She was supposed to sit for the exam at 6.30am on Friday. I called her around 12pm on Friday, her phone was switched off. As early as 4am on Saturday, I went to the centre to verify whether she sat for the exam or not. I met the security man and he directed me to the JAMB office in Abeokuta. He denied that he allowed my daughter into the school compound to pass the night.

“It was a woman that told us that a girl was kidnapped at Oru Junction and taken towards Ijebu Igbo. We later discovered her corpse on Wednesday, March 9. If the candidates were allowed to sleep inside the school, this incident would not have happened.”

DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, the Ogun State Police spokesperson, said the command was working on leads to track down the suspects.

“We are working on the information we have to get the culprits. Investigation is still ongoing and we are contacting our ICT experts on how we can track down the culprits.” He said.

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