Justice for Cynthia Osokogu

With the death sentence passed on two men, Okwumo Nwabufo and Olisaeloka Ezike, for the July 2012 killing of Cynthia Osokogu in FESTAC Town area of Lagos State, justice has come the way of the victim as well as the society. Miss Osokogu, 25 at the time of the gory incident, was the only daughter of retired Major-General Frank Osokogu of the Nigerian Army and a postgraduate student of Nasarawa State University.
Osokogu was lured from Abuja to Lagos on July 21, 2012 by Nwabufo, who she met on Facebook. Nwabufo paid for the victim’s flight ticket to Lagos and lodged her in Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate in FESTAC Town, Lagos, where, later in connivance with Ezike, he murdered her on July 22, 2012. Thus, the late Miss Osokogu became the first known casualty of social media abuse in the country.
The two convicts were on February 8, 2013 arraigned alongside Orji Osita and Ezike Nonso for the murder.  They were arraigned on a six-count charge of conspiracy, murder, stealing, recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods. In the recent judgment, Justice Olabisi Akinlade of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, sentenced Nwabufo and Ezike as charged and pronounced that they should be hanged by the neck till they are dead.
The ruling, according to the judge, is in compliance with Section 221 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, which says clearly that a person who commits murder shall be sentenced to death. She also stressed that in judgment, justice is required not only for the victim, but also the society.   Similarly, the ruling is in line with Section 306 of the Criminal Code Act (Cap. C. 17 Laws of Lagos State), which states that the killing of a human being or homicide is unlawful. It is equally in tandem with extant Federal and State Laws, which state that a perpetrator of this crime, if found guilty, “shall be hanged by the neck until he be dead.”
However, the judge discharged the other accused persons, Orji Osita, a pharmacist who was accused of dispensing the drugs the convicts used to subdue the deceased, and a brother to one of the convicts, Ezike Nonso, who was accused of receiving the stolen phones of the deceased on the grounds that the state did not prove the charges of recklessness and negligence pressed against them beyond reasonable doubts.
The conclusion of the Cynthia Osokogu case within a period of about five years is commendable. It clearly demonstrates seriousness on the part of those who handled the matter. We urge the judiciary to speedily try all murder cases in the country because justice delayed is justice denied.
However, there are lessons that Nigerian youths should learn from Osokogu’s misadventure. They should always confide in their parents and relations about their movements and relationships with other people, especially people they are meeting for the first time. If they must relate with strangers, especially those they meet on social media platforms like Facebook, they must do so with great caution and circumspection. They should be aware that all manner of people have invaded the social media to perpetrate all kinds of evil –   defrauding, killing, kidnapping and raping their   victims, especially women and young girls.
Youths should note that not all the people they meet on social media should be regarded as true friends. To be forewarned, as it is said, is to be forearmed.  Youths and, indeed, everybody should desist from blindly trusting all manner of people they meet on social media. This is, perhaps, the only way to avoid a replication of Cynthia Osokogu’s sad mishap.