Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

A Kwara State High Court in Ilorin yesterday sentenced to death by hanging the acclaimed Ilorin-based Islamic cleric, AbdulRahman Bello, for killing and dismembering the body of a final year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, Late Hafsat Yetunde Adefalu Lawal, in connivance with four other suspects.

However, the court discharged and acquitted Ahmed Abdulwasiu, Suleiman Muhydeen, Jamiu Uthman, and Abdulrahman Jamiu, four other accused persons in the trial of any connection in the five-count charge case.

The presiding Judge, Justice Hannah Olusola Ajayi, gave the ruling in Ilorin while delivering her final ruling on the murder case yesterday.

Justice Ajayi, who described the offence by the prime suspect as the highest degree of human wickedness and a cruel act, held that his defence in court showed that he had preconceived the intention of killing the victim for a money-making ritual.

She also said that the confession of love by the prime suspect for the victim with the intention to marry her, as said in his defence, is a concocted lie to deceive the court.

The Judge also said that the attitude of the convict after committing the crime and before his arrest by the law enforcement officers showed that it may not have been his first time engaging in such an act.

The court also held that the video and written evidence taken by the officers of the DSS and police from the convict duly complied with law of the state.

It also held that no evidence showed or substantiated the beating of the convict or the blood stain sustained due to police beating, while the Judge said that the convict did not show himself as a witness of truth, “because all what he said to deny allegations against him were afterthoughts. Moreover, a book containing secrets of money-making charms was found in his apartment.”

Justice  Ajayi, who took a moment out while delivering the judgement to admonish members of the public, especially young adults, on bad influence of social media, said that the victim may have been alive if she had informed members of her family, friends or relatives of her movement or visit to a Facebook male friend before she was killed.

The incident occurred on February 10, 2025, at Olunlade Area of Ilorin, Kwara State, while the case had attracted a lot of attention in and outside the state.

Justice Ajayi, who found the convict guilty of having human parts and human blood, sentenced the acclaimed cleric to 10 years imprisonment with the option of a N100,000 fine/six months’ jail term.

The court, which freed the convict of rape, however, found him guilty of killing and dismembering the body of the victim and thus sentenced him to death by hanging.

It is recalled that Bello and the four others were accused of conspiring and causing the death of Hafsoh Lawal and dismembering her body.

They were also accused of conspiring and engaging in the removal of her body parts, draining her blood, and having human parts and blood.

The prime suspect, Abdulrahman Bello, was solely accused of raping the deceased, an offence punishable under Section 283 of the Penal Code CAP P4, Laws of Kwara State. All five accused persons had pleaded not guilty.

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