Police Arrest Church Guard Over Alleged Rape, Murder of 11-Year-Old in Suleja

The Niger State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old church security guard, Godwin Dauda, in connection with the alleged sexual assault and death of an 11-year-old girl whose body was recovered from a well on church premises in Suleja.

According to a statement by the command’s spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, the case began when the girl’s family reported her missing at the A Division in Suleja on September 20. Christabel Albert had left home the previous day, September 19, to attend a relative’s birthday ceremony in the area and did not return.

Later that evening, a pastor of the Apostolic Church in Suleja alerted police after a body was discovered inside a well within the church compound. Officers, working with local government welfare officials, recovered the remains and took them to General Hospital, Suleja, where they were identified as those of the missing child.

Investigators quickly focused on Dauda, who worked as a security guard at the church and had reportedly fled the premises after the body was found. He was tracked down and arrested around 8 p.m. on September 23 in the Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory, where he had gone into hiding.

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During interrogation, Dauda allegedly confessed to luring the girl into his security room on September 19, sexually assaulting her, and discovering she had died. In an effort to conceal the crime, he said he dumped her body in the well before fleeing to Kuje. Police quoted him as stating that after the assault, he became frightened and disposed of the corpse to avoid detection.

SP Abiodun confirmed that preliminary investigations are ongoing. The suspect is to be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Minna for further inquiry and eventual prosecution.

The incident has drawn attention to the vulnerability of children in community and religious settings. Authorities have not released additional details about the ongoing probe or any related charges at this stage.