The Kwara State High Court in Ilorin, on Thursday morning, convicted and sentenced an 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.
Justice Hannah Ajayi delivered the ruling, which found Mohad guilty of the gruesome murder.
Meanwhile, four other individuals—41-year-old Islamic scholar Ahmed Abulwasiu of Adualere, Ilorin; 28-year-old Neo Life operator Sulaiman Muhydeen of Amilegbe, Ilorin; 29-year-old phone technician Jamiu Uthman of Adualere, Ilorin; and 31-year-old farmer AbdulRahman Jamiu of Elemere, Malete—were acquitted due to the prosecution’s failure to establish a case of conspiracy or prove their direct involvement in the crime.
The tragic event occurred on Monday, February 10, 2025, after Hafsoh received a phone call while attending a naming ceremony and subsequently went missing.
Her disappearance prompted a frantic search by her loved ones, who later reported the matter to the Oja Oba Police Station in Ilorin the following day.
Police investigators, through analysis of Hafsoh’s phone records, traced her final call to Abdulrahman Mohad, which led to his arrest.
Mohad, who lives in the Offa Garage area of Ilorin but has family roots in Isalekoto, was apprehended along with four others suspected of assisting in the brutal killing.
According to the police First Information Report (FIR), the suspects confessed to being members of the same occult group and admitted to robbing and murdering Hafsoh for ritual purposes.
However, in a video Mohad tried to clear his co-defendants of any involvement, claiming he acted alone in committing the crime.
“I am the only one that killed her. These other people were not there,” he declared.
