Cynthia to be buried Sept 7 – Family

Mrs Joy Osokogu , who announced the date to journalists in Jos on Monday, advised youths to be very cautious of making friends with people that they did not know.

“The youths should be very careful, especially when they are making friends in the social media. Like we have seen in the case of my daughter, such friends may have ulterior motives.

Osokogu described her deceased daughter as “very industrious, hard working and a respectful child.

“She was my daughter, my friend and my sister. Her memory will never be forgotten because she touched so many lives positively in her short stay on earth,” she said.

Osokogu said Cynthia’s killers had demanded N20 million ransom from the family.

“The killers of my daughter demanded a ransom of N20 million from my son, Flt- Lt. Kenneth Osokogu,” she said.

Osokogu said the killers sent her son, who is in Makurdi, a text message demanding that he paid N20million into an account which did not exist.

“The killers were not picking our calls; they only communicated to us via text messages.

“When my son got their SMS, he later replied them that the account number was fake and didn’t exist.

“He sent another message in which he said that if it was a case of kidnapping, he would like to speak with his sister before making any payment but the killers did not respond,” Osokogu said.

She said, however, that when she spoke with the suspected killers, they did not ask her for any money.

Osokogu said she spoke last with Cynthia on July 22, when she called to say that she was travelling to Lagos to get her goods.

“But the next day, I didn’t hear from her. When I tried to reach her, all her phones were switched off.

“After one week, the phones started ringing but no one was picking.

“Few days later, people I believe to be the killers, called and said that my daughter was in one Symbol Hospital in Lagos.

“I called the police I had earlier reported the case to, to go and verify if she was in the hospital, they said there was no hospital like that.

“After a while, I called the number and told them I wanted to speak with her but they said that it was not possible.

“When I asked why, they said she would come back but that I wouldn’t speak with her.

“When I called the number again, they said they had killed her and that was when we declared Cynthia missing,’’ Osokogu said..

The police in Lagos last week announced the arrest of some persons in connection with the murder of Cynthia. (NAN)