A 14-year-old girl identified as Joy Afekafe, has been detained for her participation in the killing of Dr. Fumilola Adefolalu, a lecturer from the Department of Biochemistry at the School of Life Sciences of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, which took place on October 28, 2023.
The suspect, who was paraded at the Bosso Police Station in Minna, Niger State, admitted to the crime and stated that she had visited the lecturer’s house to confront and assault her for sending her packing.
Additionally, she noted that she had lived with the deceased for three weeks and was supposed to sponsor her education, but asked her to leave because she could no longer tolerate her misconduct.
Joy, an SS 2 student at Day Secondary School, Gidan Kuka, disclosed that she went to the victim’s house with two of her classmates, whom she named Walex and Smart. She however, added that during the assault, they realized that the lecturer intended to report them once they left her alone and decided to murder her, with Walex and Smart hitting her with a stool before stabbing her severally.
She said: “It was Walex who said that she would recognize us if we left her alive, so they started stabbing her with the knife we brought. I then struggled with the knife with them which made Smart enter her kitchen and take a knife there and they continued stabbing her.
“They stabbed her in her stomach, her hands, her legs and she was just shouting Jesus, Jesus. After all that, they took her phone and laptop and her car battery before we left the house in the motorcycle we came in.”
The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abiodun Wasiu, while parading the suspect, opined that the police are on the trail of Joy’s friends, Walex and Smart, saying that the investigation is ongoing as the case is being transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation and prosecution.
