Islamic cleric to die by hanging for killing Kwara student

The Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital, has sentenced an Islamic cleric, Abdulrahman Mohad, to death by hanging for the ritual killing of a final-year student at the Kwara State College of Education, Lawal Hafsoh Yetunde.

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The presiding judge, Justice Hannah Ajayi, sentenced the Islamic cleric to death on Thursday, July 31, 2025.

Justice Ajayi declared that Mohad was guilty of Hafsoh’s murder.

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 because of the prosecution’s inability to prove the offence of conspiracy and their direct involvement in the crime.

The gruesome 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.

The suspect, who resides in the Offa Garage area of Ilorin but has family ties in Isalekoto, was subsequently arrested with four others accused of aiding him in committing the heinous crime.

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.

Mohad later claimed sole responsibility for the murder, saying: “I am the only one who killed her. These other people were not there.”