A secondary school friend of Elozino Joshualia Ogege, the Delta State University first-class student who was allegedly murdered for ritual purposes in 2018, has raised serious concerns about the state of the court proceedings in the case, lamenting that despite full confessions by the suspects, the trial has dragged for seven years through endless adjournments with no conviction or sentencing in sight.
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Tejiomo Omojevwe, who described Elozino as a close friend and seatmate during their secondary school days, posted the appeal on social media platform X, questioning the pace of justice and asking pointedly whether the court and prosecution are genuinely committed to delivering a verdict.
At the heart of Omojevwe’s frustration is the conduct of the trial since it commenced. She described a pattern of repeated adjournments and unexplained delays that have stretched the case across seven years without a clear conclusion.
“But since 2018, what has happened? Elo has had no justice since 2018. The case has been in court. Adjournment after adjournment. Delay after delay. Years have passed. No clear justice,” Omojevwe stated.
She questioned whether there was any genuine commitment to bringing the matter to a conclusion, asking rhetorically: “Are they bringing the judge?”
Omojevwe’s central grievance is that the suspects in the case confessed to killing Elozino, yet seven years later, no sentence has been handed down. She expressed disbelief that a case with confessions, police confirmation of guilt, and overwhelming evidence could remain unresolved for so long.
“They already confessed to doing it. They should have been sentenced to death already. All the people involved,” she stated.
She noted that the confessions were not informal admissions but statements acknowledged by the Delta State Police. The then Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Andrew Aniamaka, had confirmed at the time that the suspects confessed to the crime. The then Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Mustafa, also confirmed the arrests and identified the suspects as ritual killers.
Omojevwe framed the delay as not merely a procedural issue but as a fundamental denial of justice for Elozino and her family.
“Elo is gone, we know, but we want justice. And till today, it feels like justice is still being delayed,” she wrote.
She appealed to Nigerians not to allow the case to be forgotten and to demand that the court bring the matter to a conclusion, arguing that the passage of seven years since the crime and the arrests — with the suspects having confessed — makes the continued delays inexcusable.
The case stems from the 2018 murder of Elozino Ogege, a first-class student at Delta State University, Abraka, who was allegedly lured by a security guard working within the university environment under the pretense of helping her find accommodation to rent.
The security guard, identified as Onoriode, allegedly worked with a gang of suspected internet fraudsters, including one identified as Desmond, a security supervisor identified as Nwosisi Benedict Uche, and an alleged mastermind described as a suspected fraudster who came from Ghana. The body parts were allegedly taken to a native doctor identified as Ojokojo Robinson Obajero for money rituals.
Police tracked Elozino’s phone after her family reported her missing and arrested the suspects. One of the alleged masterminds reportedly died while attempting to escape arrest. The suspects who were arrested confessed to the crime and the case was subsequently charged to court.
Findings from court records obtained from the Delta State Ministry of Justice reveal the extent of the delays and identify the primary source of the obstruction.
The High Court of Delta State, sitting in the Ogwashi-Uku Judicial Division, has been hearing the case since 2019. Three defendants — Macaulay Desmond Oghenemaro, Nwosisi Benedict Uche, and Enaike Onoriode — have been standing trial on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder in connection with the death of Elozino Ogege.
Court records show that the trial had reached the stage of filing and adoption of final written addresses — the last procedural step before judgment — but was repeatedly stalled by the conduct of Mr. S. C. Okehielem, counsel to the 1st defendant.
At proceedings in November 2025, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Mr. Omamuzo Erebe SAN, appearing alongside U. P. Okolotu Esq., Principal State Counsel, opposed a letter of adjournment submitted by Mr. Okehielem. The prosecution informed the court that while counsel to the 2nd and 3rd defendants had duly filed their final written addresses, the 1st defendant’s counsel had persistently failed to comply with the court’s earlier directives of June 25, 2025, and October 29, 2025, to file and exchange addresses.
The Solicitor-General described Mr. Okehielem’s conduct as a pattern of deliberate non-compliance and urged the court to invoke Section 332(4)(c) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Delta State, 2022, to foreclose the 1st defendant’s counsel from filing any address and to direct the defendant to either engage new counsel or have one appointed from the Office of the Public Defender.
In its ruling, the court upheld the prosecution’s position, making critical findings about the conduct of the 1st defendant’s counsel.
The court found that Mr. Okehielem had been “mostly responsible for the delays in the matter” and that his conduct reflected “a blatant disregard of the orders of the Court.”
The court also noted that the adjournment letter submitted by Mr. Okehielem bore a date of November 13, 2025 — a date after the day’s sitting and a day on which the matter was not even fixed for hearing. The court described this as “a gross affront on the sanctity of the Court.”
Consequently, the court foreclosed Mr. Okehielem from filing any written address and directed the 1st defendant to engage another counsel to do so. By default, a counsel from the Office of the Public Defender would be appointed to represent the defendant.
The matter was adjourned to November 26, 2025, for the adoption of final written addresses.
The court’s intervention — foreclosing defence counsel and directing the appointment of a public defender — signals that the trial may finally be approaching its conclusion after years of delays. The adoption of final written addresses is the last step before a judge delivers judgment, meaning that if the remaining procedural steps are completed without further obstruction, a verdict in the case of Elozino Ogege could finally be delivered.
However, the fact that it took the court seven years to reach this stage, with the prosecution led by the state’s Solicitor-General having to repeatedly battle defence counsel’s non-compliance, underscores the systemic challenges in Nigeria’s criminal justice system that allow cases to be delayed indefinitely through procedural manipulation.
The case raises broader questions about the efficiency of criminal trials in Nigeria, the enforcement of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law’s provisions on speedy trial, the accountability of lawyers who deliberately obstruct proceedings, and the emotional toll such delays impose on the families and friends of victims.
Omojevwe’s appeal has gained traction on social media, with users calling attention to the case under the hashtags #JusticeForElozino and #EndRitualKillings.
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