A wanted killer, Nnanyereugo Best a.k.a. Killaboi, who was declared wanted by the police for killing his girlfriend, Augusta Osedion, a student of Lead City University, has been arrested in Sierra Leone.
The suspect was said to have changed his name to Kanu Princeton Samuel and used $25,000 to purchase a Sierra Leonean passport.
He was, however, nabbed with other ladies at a night club in Free Town yesterday after his posted picture had gone viral on social media.
Killaboi had made the headlines in July when he took to the social media to confess murdering Augusta.
His arrest in Free Town, the Sierra Leone capital, was not without efforts from family members of the deceased model, including her brother and mother, Cordelia Okonye.
In an emotion-laden Facebook post on Saturday, Okonye narrated her role in getting Killaboi arrested at his hideout in Sierra Leone.
According to her, there were numerous pleas made to her daughter’s alleged killer to turn himself in, but he chose to ignore them.
Okonye said faced with that reality, she decided to send a passport photograph of him to all her relatives.
She said: “He blocked me after alleging I pimped my daughter out to men, which I never did. So what I did, I sent his passport photographs to all my relatives, friends, and family across the globe and told them he has a tattoo that identifies him.
“So along the line, my cousin in Sierra Leone was the first that hinted me that ‘I saw somebody like him. Immediately, my son and a cousin went to Sierra Leone.
“A day before my son and cousin got to Sierra Leone, they declared Killaboi wanted. He was already hiding in the country.
“The commissioner of police was contacted. Killaboi killed my daughter and left her corpse to rot before taking her phone.
On how Killaboi could travel outside the country’s shores after the murder, Okonye said he used fake names to secure a passport.
“Best killed my daughter on the 13th of July and got a Sierra Leonean passport on the 28th of July. He was eventually arrested yesterday (Thursday). One per cent of the pain is gone this morning that Benjamin is caught,” she said in a tone of triumph.
On his part, Augusta’s brother revealed that he had spent the past week in Freetown, Sierra Leone, coordinating with local law enforcement agencies to devise a strategy for capturing Killaboi.
He said: “They had been tracking him for some time, knowing his routines and movements, and their persistence led to his eventual apprehension at a nightclub.
“I’ve spent the last week in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We were in contact with the law enforcement agencies in Sierra Leone to set up ways to apprehend Ben.
“We knew where he slept, we knew where he ate, we trailed him until they were able to apprehend him last night.
“I’ve looked for him everywhere, from Accra to Abidjan, and luck brought him to my path in Freetown.
“Through the efforts of the Sierra Leonean authorities, we’ve finally been able to apprehend him. We hope the Nigerian Police Force work fast to extradite him to face his crimes.”
Augusta’s brother expressed his struggles in trying to do the right thing, acknowledging that he had done his part and was now entrusting the rest to the appropriate authorities.