Cynthia Osokogu's murder: Twists and turns

By Ibiene George

Background
Cynthia Osokogu was a 25 year old fashion retailer who was murdered inLagosby undergraduate students she met through facebook.  Although the suspects have been apprehended by the police, the case has taken several twists and turns.
Killers’ identity revealed
Initially, the faces of the culprits were hidden from public view, and media were not allowed to take shots of the suspects. However, on Wednesday, August 30, 2012, 4 people were tagged as suspects; Orji Osita, Nwadiokor Chukwunonso, Okay Echelon Nwabufo and Ezike Ilechukwu Olives.
Management sacks hotel workers for negligence
The management of Casmillo Hotel inLagos, where the late Miss Cynthia Udoka Osokogu was killed, sacked all staff on duty the day of the murder. The hotel, which is located at Lake View Estate, Amuwo Odofin in Lagos State, is said to have a tradition of ‘proper screening’ of its guests at the point of checking in, by demanding valid identification of prospective guests.
The front-desk officer was said to have breached this established procedure, which made it difficult for the deceased to be identified after her attackers took away all her identity cards and personal effects.
The Pharmacists
Two of the four persons paraded by the police in the murder case are pharmacists of Oxpharm pharmacy, located somewhere in FESTAC. Orji Osita and Nwadiokor Chukwunonso were accused of selling a sedative without proper prescriptions and were charged with murder, felony and robbery.
PSN reacts
Following the arrest and detention of the pharmacists, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has reacted to the plight of their colleagues.
In a press release, the president of the society, Azubike Okwor, expressed deep concern with respect to the allegations made against the pharmacists. While admitting that it was unethical to sell the drug without prescriptions, PSN said it was however not sufficient to make them accomplices to the crime, and asked those involved to look into the matter critically.
BB connection
In a related development, the discovery of Cynthia’s Blackberry phone has led to the arrest of a middle-aged man in Port Harcourt.
The unnamed man admitted to buying the phone from a friend inLagosand has led the police in arresting two new suspects to the case.
Two more suspects arrested
The police in connection to the  murder of late Cynthia Osokogu have arrested two more persons.One of the new suspects identified as Nonso Ezekiel is the younger brother of Chidera Olisaeloka, who is already involved in the case.
According to Daily Times, Nonso, who claims to be a graduate of Mathematics and Computer Science from the Federal University of Technology (FUTO), was the one who sold the deceased’s blackberry phone to the businessman inPort Harcourt.
Nonso on his part claims that the phone, a bold 5 99100 was sold to him by his brother for N42, 000 while he resold at N68.000 adding that Chidera told him  that the phone was for Okunmo their cousin.
Meanwhile, the second new suspect, Gideon Okechukwu, a 39-year-old driver is allegedly the driver of gang.
The Police reveal that the recent arrests were successful through what was described as electronic policing.
It was further reported that the police recovered a black Compaq 610 laptop belonging to Okunmo Nwabufo who is already in custody.
The laptop contained about fifty nude pictures of the female victims of the gang, tied, cello taped with dangerous instruments being inserted in their private part. The laptop also had snap shots of late Cynthia showing her body with deep bites on her breast, buttocks and back.
Burial
The late Cynthia will be laid to rest on September 7. Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned till October 3.