BREAKING: COURT SENTENCES OLUWATIMILEHIN AJAYI TO DEATH BY HANGING OVER SALOME ADAIDU'S MURDER

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By Aishat Momoh. O.

A High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has sentenced Oluwatimileyin Ajayi to death by hanging for the gruesome murder of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Salome Adaidu.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Simon Aboki found Ajayi guilty of culpable homicide after he was charged with the killing and dismemberment of the late Adaidu. The offence, according to the court, is contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria and is punishable by death.

Ajayi was convicted on a one-count charge of culpable homicide following a trial that revealed chilling details of the murder. The judge ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Justice Aboki, while pronouncing the death sentence, stated: “The accused is hereby sentenced to death by hanging until he is confirmed dead, as provided by the law.”

Salome was murdered when she visited the suspect at his house in the Papalana axis at New Karshi in the Karu Local Government Area of the state.

Ajayi was arrested on Sunday, January 12, 2025, while allegedly trying to dispose of the head of Salome after killing her and dismembering her body parts when she visited him at his house.

The police also paraded him alongside the knife and machetes he allegedly used to commit the crime.

When asked during an interview with Channels Television earlier whether he killed Salome, he said, “Yes,” narrating that it wasn’t planned but was because they didn’t have each other all the time.

“I killed her because we don’t have each other all the time, it’s not something I planned. It happened on that day, and it happened. Not that I had the plan in mind, she was cheating.

“She hides most of the things from me most time. I got to know from her phone. I saw her chats with other guys on the phone, that was why I decided,” he had said.

When probed further, he said he had no regrets about committing the crime.

“I don’t have any regrets because life is reciprocal; that is what I thought, if you must do something to someone, you have to be reciprocal with that person.

“You have to understand what that person is going through so that you can put yourself in the position that the person is going through,” he added.

The judgment brings closure to a case that sparked widespread outrage and calls for justice following the discovery of Adaidu’s dismembered body.