Abdulrahman Bello and Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal
The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin has affirmed the death sentence imposed on self-acclaimed Islamic cleric, Abdulrahman Bello, for the murder of his lover, Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal, a final-year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin.
Arewa PUNCH recalls that Lawal was murdered on February 10, 2025, at the Olunlade area of Ilorin in a case that attracted widespread public outrage across Kwara State and beyond.
Bello and four others were initially arraigned on charges bordering on conspiracy, murder, unlawful removal and possession of human parts and blood, while Bello alone also faced a rape charge, of which he was eventually acquitted by the trial court.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday by a three-member panel led by Justice Gabriel Omoniyi Kolawole, the appellate court dismissed Bello’s appeal, holding that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that he murdered the victim and was unlawfully in possession of human parts.
