By
Fawaz Adebisi
On Tuesday, Justice Ibrahim Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin sentenced two students, Abdulazeez Ismail and Ajala Oluwatimileyin, to death for the murder of Blessing Olajide, a 300-level undergraduate at the University of Ilorin.
On June 2, 2021, the two attacked Olajide and killed her at her sister’s home in Ilorin, Kwara State’s Tanke neighborhood.
Also, Two siblings, Abdulkarim Shuaib (aka Easy) and Kareem Rasheed (aka Rasworld), were each given a sentence of three years in prison for taking money from the deceased’s Guarantee Trust Bank account a few days after she was killed.
Justice Yusuf also sentenced another student, Oyeyemi Omogbolahan, to life improvement.
The court therefore, released and cleared three more people: Akande Oladoja, Daud Adebayo (Bashman), and Abdullateef Abdulrahman.
However, Justice Yusuf found the eight defendants guilty on 11 counts, including conspiracy, rape, culpable homicide, and theft of funds, as two other telephone repairmen, who assisted in unlocking Olajide’s phone and helped with the withdrawal of money from her account, were also found guilty on conspiracy and theft charges.
The judge, who said 13 people testified for the prosecution, while 16 witnesses, including the accused persons, were called to testify for the defendants, said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Yusuf said, “While the prosecution established the ingredients of conspiracy and armed robbery against the first three accused persons, it proved beyond reasonable doubt that injury was inflicted on the deceased and she was raped to death.
“I direct that Abdulazeez Ismail and Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin be hanged by the neck until they are pronounced dead.”
The prosecution counsel and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, who spoke to journalists after the court session, said, “The irony of it all is that all those involved are young men of 19, 23, etc. It’s quite unfortunate. And that shows that we have to work on our future in this country.”
