Mr Ibrahim Lawal, father of Ilorin, Kwara State-based Hafsoh Lawal, a college of education allegedly killed by a self-professed alfa, Abdulrahman Bello, has recalled his first encounter with the suspect.
According to him, he looked so innocent that he felt he could not have been the killer of his daughter.
Lawal said this in an interview in ‘Saturday Punch’, where he narrated the pains the family has gone through over the incident.
He said, “After 24 hours, we went to report at the C Division of the Nigeria Police, Oja-Oba, Ilorin. I went there with my brother to file a complaint, but the lady at the counter advised us that the best thing we could do was track her phone number. We followed her advice and tracked her number. With the help of some relatives and friends, by the grace of God, we managed to track her number the following day, even though we experienced network failures.
“Some numbers were extracted, including my phone number, her boyfriend’s, and another friend’s. The police called me, and I recognised her boyfriend’s number, the one she said she wanted to marry.
“The police also called two numbers. They went to Soludero in the Sawmill area and arrested a boy who happened to be the boyfriend of one of her friends because they communicated often. If that boy couldn’t reach his girlfriend, he would call my daughter, as they were close.
“When they realised the boy was innocent, they released him and turned to the other number that had called her that day. The man they tracked was an Alfa who called my daughter about five times that day. The police officer in charge of the investigation was convinced that my daughter was with this man.
“When the man was arrested, he appeared calm and composed. I had doubts that such a quiet young man could have been involved with my daughter. I even felt sorry for him, unaware that he was actually with her. He initially denied that my daughter was with him, but the police told us to leave that day, assuring us that he would confess before midnight.”
