A 29-year-old man, Salaudeen Toheeb, has been arrested in Ogun State after a missing 22-year-old lady was allegedly found in his custody in the Ota area of the state.
The suspect was apprehended by operatives of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps, popularly known as So-Safe Corps, following information that he was seen with the woman who had been declared missing by her family.
The State Commander of the corps, Commander Soji Ganzallo, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by the Director of Information and Public Relations, ACC Adegunwa Adegbuyi.
According to the statement, the incident came to light on Saturday when the Divisional Officer of the Alagbon Division, SC Ibrahim Badru, received information that a man was moving around with a young woman being searched for by her relatives.
The officers reportedly moved to the location and arrested Toheeb, while the woman, identified simply as Boluwatife, was rescued.
During preliminary questioning, the suspect allegedly told investigators that he encountered the woman on Thursday evening while riding his motorcycle and offered to help after she reportedly said she was distressed and had nowhere to go.
He was said to have taken her to his residence at Olohunda, Ota, bought her food and later allegedly attempted to have sexual intercourse with her.
The woman reportedly resisted, but the suspect was accused of forcing himself on her in the early hours of Friday.
The matter took another turn when the suspect reportedly took the woman outside to charge his phone, where residents who recognised her alerted her father.
The father subsequently requested that the case be transferred to the police for further investigation.
He also reportedly told the authorities that his daughter had left home with five mobile phones and about N17,000, asking that the items and circumstances surrounding her disappearance be investigated.
The So-Safe Corps said the suspect and the victim had since been handed over to the Owode-Yewa Divisional Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation and prosecution.
