Ilorin Islamic cleric to die by hanging for killing final-year student for ritual

A Kwara State High Court, on Thursday, convicted and sentenced an Islamic cleric, Abdulrahman Mohad aka Mohammed A. Bello to death.

The cleric was sentenced to death for killing Lawal Hafsoh Yetunde, a final-year student of Kwara State College of Education, for ritual purposes.

Justice Hannah Ajayi of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin pronounced the sentence on the cleric.

The court however discharged and acquitted four other defendants, including 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.

The incident occurred on Monday, February 10, 2025, after the student received a phone call from the cleric 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.

Police First Information Report said the suspects confessed to belonging to the same occult group and admitted to robbing and killing Hafsoh for ritual purposes.