Emir of Ilorin condemns ritual killing of final-year student, says justice must be served
The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, Mai-Martaba Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari CFR, has expressed sadness over the gruesome killing of Hafsoh Lawal, a final-year student of the Kwara State College of Education, (KWCOE), Ilorin by one Abdulrahman Bello, an acclaimed ‘alfa’.
Alhaji Sulu-Gambari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona, condemned the incident, saying, “It is most unfortunate, alien and regrettable act of wickedness.”
According to him, “It has become pertinent for parents, guardians as well as people in the neighbourhood to remain vigilant to happenings around them, especially ensuring that their children and wards are in the company of people of tested and trusted characters with well-researched family background.
“It is only hardwork that pays; total war should be declared against idleness, laziness and unwarranted loitering around the society by youths in the name of finding means of survival.”
Alhaji Sulu-Gambari also urged clerics in the Ilorin Emirate and beyond to sanitise the system by ensuring that the likes of Abdulrahman Bello are expressly exposed to the law enforcement agencies before wrecking more havoc and damaging the lives of innocent persons.
While commiserating the families of the late Hafsoh Lawal over the unfortunate end to the life of the promising daughter, Alhaji Sulu-Gambari urged the Nigeria Police and the Judiciary to ensure that toral justice is served in this matter while also directing religious leaders, especially Imams in Mosques in Ilorin Emirate and Kwara State at large to ensure that their Friday Khutbah focuses more attention on morality, dignity in labour as well as importance and respect for the souls of fellow human-being irrespective of tribe, religion and status.
The Informant247 reports that an Ilorin-born middle-aged man identified as Abdulrahman Bello has allegedly killed and dismembered the body of Lawal Hafsoh, a final-year student of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, for suspected ritual purposes.
According to reports, the deceased, Lawal Hafsoh, had on Monday, 10th of February 2025, declared missing after receiving a call at the naming ceremony.
It was gathered that the lady’s whereabouts were unknown since she received the call.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 11th of February 2025, the deceased parents reported the case to the Divisional Police Station at Oja Oba Police Station in Ilorin, the state capital.
However, the police requested her phone number and used it to track her last call, which was traced to an individual living in the Offa garage area of Ilorin,
The suspect, whose family house is in Isalekoto, was tracked and arrested, where he initially denied the knowledge of the lady’s whereabouts. However, when the police searched his house, he confessed that the lady was in his area and had died from an asthma attack after he called her to come over.
Upon further investigation, the police found the lady’s body dismembered and hidden in a bowl, along with the equipment used to dismember her. The suspect is now at the police headquarters in Ilorin.
It was reported that the suspect and the deceased met on Facebook, where they both got connected.
However, an effort to speak to the Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer SP Toun Ejire-Adeyemi proved abortive as she didn’t pick up her call at the time of filing this report.
