Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two men in connection with the brutal abduction and killing of Thompson Adams, a 17‑year‑old candidate of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), in the Ikorodu area of Lagos. The suspects, Elijah Emmanuel, 23, and Tony Ekwen Ogenata, 21, were apprehended on Monday, April 27, 2026, at about 8:00 p.m. at Lucky Fibre, Ikorodu, following credible intelligence.
Parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Ikeja on Wednesday, April 29, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani, revealed that the victim and his killers were former secondary school classmates. According to the police, Adams was returning from his examination hall on Wednesday, April 22, when the suspects lured him to their apartment under false pretences. “On April 27, 2026, at about 20.00 hours, operatives of the command, acting on credible intelligence, traced and arrested suspected kidnappers at Lucky Fibre, Ikorodu, Lagos. The suspects are Elijah Emmanuel, 23, and Tony Ekwen Ogenata, 21,” Tijani said. “Criminal investigation revealed that the suspects are linked to the kidnapping and gruesome murder of one Thompson Adams, aged 17, which occurred on April 22, 2026. The two boys went out with their friend, Adams, who was their secondary schoolmate. Along the line, they murdered him.”
The police said the suspects later concealed the victim’s body in a bag and disposed of it somewhere within the community. After the body was dumped, they contacted the family of the murdered teenager and demanded a ransom, though further details of the extortion attempt are still unclear. The murder has sent shockwaves through the local education community, coming just days after the 2026 UTME, which had been conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and had already been a tense period for thousands of candidates.
Further interrogation exposed the suspects’ involvement in an even earlier and equally gruesome crime. According to the Commissioner, the two men were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of a female victim in November 2025. In that case, the victim was described as the girlfriend of one of the suspects. The perpetrators contacted her family and demanded a ransom of N300,000. After the family paid the money, the suspects still killed the woman. “Investigation revealed that they had earlier kidnapped and murdered a female victim on November 30, 2025. The victim was a girlfriend of one of them. They contacted her parents and demanded ransom,” Tijani said. “After collecting the N300,000, they still went ahead and murdered the lady.”
The revelations have shocked Ikorodu residents, exposing a chilling pattern of violence by two young men who exploited personal relationships to commit murder and extortion. One victim was a former schoolmate returning from his UTME; another was a girlfriend whose family had paid a ransom in the desperate hope of seeing her alive. Both times, the suspects allegedly killed their victims after obtaining what they wanted.
The Lagos State Police Command has assured the public that the suspects will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations. The arrests have been widely welcomed by the community, but the case has also renewed concerns about the safety of students during the examination period and the growing menace of young criminal networks in Lagos. The police have called on residents to remain vigilant and to report suspicious activities to the nearest police station. For now, the two suspects remain in police custody, and the families of both victims await the next stage of a judicial process that could at last bring some measure of justice.
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