Court sentences Ilorin-based Islamic cleric to death for ritual murder of final-year student

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A Kwara State High Court has sentenced Islamic cleric Abdulrahman Mohad, also known as Mohammed A. Bello, to death for the ritual killing of Lawal Hafsoh Yetunde, a final-year student at the Kwara State College of Education.

The judgment was pronounced on Thursday by Justice Hannah Ajayi of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.

Four other defendants, 41-year-old Islamic scholar Ahmed Abulwasiu from Adualere, Ilorin; 28-year-old Neo Life business operator Sulaiman Muhydeen from Amilegbe, Ilorin; 29-year-old phone repairer Jamiu Uthman from Adualere, Ilorin; and 31-year-old farmer AbdulRahman Jamiu from Elemere, Malete, were discharged and acquitted by the court.

The incident occurred on Monday, February 10, 2025, after the student received a phone call while attending a naming ceremony and mysteriously went missing.

Her family and friends launched a frantic search before reporting her disappearance to the police at Oja Oba Station in Ilorin the following day.

Police investigators, using Hafsoh’s phone records, traced her last known call to Abdulrahman Mohad, leading to his arrest.

According to the police First Information Report (FIR), the suspects confessed to belonging to the same occult group and admitted to robbing and killing Hafsoh for ritual purposes.