The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two suspects, Elijah Emmanuel and Tony Oghanetega, for allegedly killing a 17-year-old Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) student, Thompson Omokhafe Adams.
The suspects confessed to detectives investigating the matter, detailing how they killed the teenager.
They told police that they murdered the boy because he identified one of them.
Investigation also revealed that the suspects had, in November 2025, abducted a female victim and killed her after collecting a N300,000 ransom from her family.
Elijah Emmanuel, 23, and Tony Oghanetega, 21, were among the 116 suspects arrested by the command in the last one month.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Tijani Fatai, at a press briefing yesterday, said:
“In line with this commitment, the command recorded remarkable operational successes within April 2026, resulting in the arrest of numerous criminal suspects involved in armed robbery, cultism, kidnapping, vandalism, unlawful possession of firearms, street violence and other related offences.
“These achievements further reaffirm our resolve to rid Lagos State of criminal elements and sustain peace, safety and public confidence in policing.
“The achievements include the arrest of 118 suspects; recovery of 11 locally fabricated Beretta pistols, one locally made pistol, one English Beretta pistol, two Dane guns, nine telecom power batteries, four cutlasses, one knife, one bag of substances suspected to be Indian hemp, assorted charms and other incriminating items.”
CP Tijani told newsmen that on April 27, 2026, operatives of the command, acting on credible intelligence, traced and arrested two suspected kidnappers at Lucy Fibre area, Ikorodu, Lagos.
“The suspects are Elijah Emmanuel, 23, and Tony Ekwane Oghanetega, 21.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects are linked to the kidnapping and gruesome murder of Thompson Omokhafe Adams, 17, which occurred on April 22, 2026.
“Further interrogation revealed that the suspects had earlier kidnapped and murdered a female victim on November 30, 2025, during which a ransom of N300,000 was paid by the victim’s family.
“One of the suspects, Tony Oghanetega, confessed that they killed the boy while he was returning from a JAMB centre.
“It was his partner, Elijah, who was close to the boy and lured him to where he was killed.
“They tied his legs and hands before strangling him to death. Tony first strangled him and, when he became tired, Elijah also strangled him to ensure he was dead.”
The CP, who raised the alarm over rising cases of cultism, advised parents to monitor their children.
“Beyond parents, religious and traditional rulers also have roles to play in curbing the spread of cultism in Lagos. We have been doing our best through sensitisation, arrests and prosecution, but the more we arrest, the more they emerge. It is becoming alarming.
“As elections gather momentum, we warn unscrupulous politicians to desist from engaging thugs and cultists.”
