The perpetrators have been held accountable three years after Sofiat Okeowo, a little girl, was killed for ceremonial reasons.
Sofiat, like other young Nigerian girls, had travelled to the Oke-Aregba, Kugba neighbourhood of Abeokuta, Ogun State, to see her 18-year-old lover, Majekodunmi Soliudeen.
She was unaware that it would be her final Friday on earth as, with the assistance of his friend Balogun Mustakeem, Soliu not only had sex with her but also savagely attacked, strangled, and decapitated her.
They cut parts of Sofiat’s thighs and stuffed her headless body into a sack, taking her head to one Abdulgafar Lukmon’s house where it was burnt in a local burner.
The culprits, who claimed they only needed her head for a money ritual, were apprehended while burning her head and chanting incantation over her corpse.
They are 18-year-old Majekodunmi Soliudeen, 20-year-old Balogun Mustakeem, Abdulgafar Lukman, 19-year-old, and Waris Oladeinde, aged 17.
How her Last Friday Begun
According to reports, the fourth born of the family and 16-year-old fashion designer and bread seller lost her father many years ago.
She lived with her then 60-year old mother at Baba Alaja compound of Idi Ape area in Abeokuta, and was said to have been warned severally to stay away from her boyfriend who attended the same Islamic society (Asalatu) with her.
According to her elder sister, Muinat Okeowo, on that fateful Friday evening, the deceased was cooking beans when she received a call from her boyfriend at about 7:30pm and left for his place.
According to her, “she added all the ingredients except palm oil, and told me she wanted to go out, promising to come back sooner, but we didn’t see her around 8:30 to 9pm.
“We were worried because she had never slept outside the house before. I called her, and she said she was on her way. Around 10 pm, her number was no longer available.
“On Saturday morning, I came around to ask about her and our mother said she didn’t come home. I was surprised.
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“Later, we heard that a girl was killed at Oke-Aregba. When we got there, I saw people watching a video of where Mustakeem was confessing. I was shocked. We went to the police station at Adatan and the DPO said Sofiat had been killed”.
Findings revealed that Sofia first dated Mustakeem and they broke up in September 2021 after her family objected to the relationship. He later transferred her to his newly-found male friend, Majekodunmi, who he met in December.
Majekodunmi and Sofiat’s relationship did not last up to two months before it ended in tragedy.
The family of the deceased, however, demanded that the killers of their daughter should be beheaded the same way they killed the victim. They pleaded that justice must be served and not delayed.
The Arrest
The Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, had confirmed the incident, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abeokuta.
He said, “On interrogation, the arrested suspects confessed that what they were burning in the local pot was the head of the girlfriend of their escaped accomplice.
“They confessed further that the girl who was simply identified as Sofiat was lured by her boyfriend, simply identified as Soliu to where she was murdered by four of them, after which they cut off her head and packed the remains in a sack, and dumped it in an old building.
“They subsequently led policemen to the building, where the dismembered body was recovered and deposited at the general hospital mortuary for autopsy. The short cutlass and a knife used in cutting off the deceased head were also recovered.”
The Arraignment
The Intercept reports that the four suspects were on Thursday, 3rd February 2022, brought before Chief Magistrate I. O. Adudu of Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit a felony and murder contrary to sections 316 and 324 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State, 2006.
The case, with suit number MISC/22/2022, was only brought before the court for mention as pleas were not taken from the four accused persons.
Magistrate Abudu, who did not take the plea of the accused, ordered that they be remanded in Oba correctional service, pending Legal advice from Ogun State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Fourth Suspect Exonerated
In March 2022, the Magistrates’ Court released 17-year-old Waris Oladehinde, who was among the four boys arrested for killing their girlfriend in Ogun State.
The court released Oladehinde based on the legal advice received from the state Director of Public Prosecution.
The state police command, who confirmed the release, said the suspect was released at the instance of the court.
Two of the accused boys reportedly confessed that while the third accused boy allowed them to burn the head in his house, Oladehinde only walked in after the deed had been done.
It was gathered that the exoneration seemed complex because the beheading took place in the middle of the night and people do not visit their friends in the night.
Justice for Sofiat Okeowo, three years after
Three years after, Justice Olugboyega Ogunfowora of Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta, on Friday, July 11, convicted the trio of murder, sentencing Mustakeem and Soliudeen to death by hanging and Lukmon to life in prison.
The Attorney General and commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abeokuta.
Ogungbade expressed gratitude that justice was served and appreciated the prosecutors at the Ministry of Justice who secured justice despite challenges.
The commissioner’s statement read, “Today, July 11, 2025, the trio of Mustakeem Balogun, Soliudeen Majekodunmi, and Lukmon Abdulgafar face the full wrath of the law over the gruesome killing of Sofia Okeowo.
“Justice Olugboyega Ogunfowora of the Ogun State High Court has, however, found the trio guilty of the crime committed and has therefore sentenced Mustakeem Balogun and Soliudeen Majekodunmi to death by hanging while Lukman Abdulgafar received a life sentence.
“Ogun State has won this case, and the convicts have been conclusively excluded from civilised society for the considerable future.
“We are grateful for the closure that we have been able to provide Sofia’s family. I am incredibly proud of the prosecutors at the Ministry of Justice who secure justice despite challenges.
“My immense thanks go to the Police and the security architecture across the State who are actively fighting crime, preventing many and solving others.”
He maintained that the ministry was committed to ensuring that crimes do not thrive in the state and criminals when found would be brought to book.
The commissioner urged youths to prioritize education and skills instead of resorting to money rituals, warning that anyone found would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“This is a call to the public to return to our traditional values of hard work, disdain for crime, and collective responsibility for instruction and correction.
“However, as today’s verdict shows, whether the society discharges this duty or not, the Ministry of Justice stands ready to hold offenders to account,” he added.
