A 30-year-old physics teacher and church choir master, Nathaniel Baiyegun, has been arrested by Ogun State Police operatives following the kidn@p and death of a 16-year-old former student in Ogijo, Ogun State.
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The victim, who had struggled with her WAEC results and was hoping to rewrite the examinations this year, was lured to a coaching class by the suspect on April 8, 2026 — and never made it home.
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A Trusted Face With a Hidden Side
To those around him, Baiyegun appeared to be a model community figure. He taught Physics and Further Mathematics at a private school in Ogijo and served as choir master at his local church. Parents trusted him with their children’s education. Students knew him simply as “teacher.”
But according to police, a far more sinister reality lurked beneath that respectable image.
The Trap
The victim had completed secondary school the previous year but failed English and Mathematics in her WAEC examinations. Eager to improve her results, she accepted an invitation from her former teacher to attend his JAMB and WAEC coaching camp.
She arrived on April 8. She never returned home.
Her family’s anxiety soon turned to horror when an unknown caller contacted them, claiming their daughter had been kidnapped and demanding a N3 million ransom. After prolonged negotiations, the family scraped together and paid N500,000 — only to never see their daughter alive again. Her body was later recovered from a river in the Ogijo area.
Arrest and Investigation
Weeks after the incident, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the Ogun State Police Command tracked down and arrested Baiyegun. Preliminary investigations revealed he had been involved in internet fraud and had previously solicited nude photographs from the deceased girl, which she had sent to him via mobile phone.
Police further gathered that Baiyegun had been trying to pressure the girl into a romantic relationship with his friend, identified only as Sola, before the plot turned criminal.
Suspect’s Account
In his statement, Baiyegun claimed the death was accidental and offered a detailed account of events.
He said the girl was not among his direct students but that the two had maintained a close, though non-romantic, relationship. He claimed he had distanced himself from her after an incident that embarrassed him at his former school, and had not heard from her until April 7, 2026, when they crossed paths by chance while he was filming content for his Instagram page.
He said she mentioned her poor WAEC results, and he invited her to his coaching camp. The following day, he called her to come to his new school, this time under the pretense that his friend Sola wanted to meet her.
When she arrived and his friend had already left, Baiyegun said she told him Sola had demanded sex from her, which she refused. With no money to get home, Baiyegun claimed the two of them hatched a plan together — a staged kidnapping targeting her wealthy uncle.
He said he moved her to an uncompleted building behind the school and, using her phone, contacted her father demanding N3 million.
When the girl complained of difficulty sleeping, he administered four doses of D5 sleeping tablets and left her there. He did not return to check on her for two days. When he finally did, on the night of April 11, he said he found her barely breathing.
Rather than seeking medical help, he flagged down a motorcycle, telling the rider the girl was ill and needed care from a relative. Instead, he dumped her body in a nearby river.
Ransom Spent on Betting
Even as the girl lay dying and later dead, Baiyegun continued negotiating with her grieving father. He accepted the N500,000 payment while knowing his victim was already gone, and deliberately withheld the truth from the family.
When asked what he did with the money, he said plainly: “I spent almost all the money on online sports betting and I regret it now.”
Police Response
Ogun State Police Command spokesman DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi confirmed the arrest, commending the Anti-Kidnapping Unit for their “intelligence-driven approach” in bringing the suspect in.
He assured residents that the command would continue to dismantle criminal networks across the state, and called on members of the public to support security agencies with timely and credible information.
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