Three men charged with murder after they set Lagos prostitute ablaze for being in possession of a Koran

THREE men have been charged with murder by the Lagos State Police Command after they beat a sex worker to death and set her corpse ablaze after they found a copy of the Holy Koran underneath her pillow.

Trouble started when the lady identified as Hannah Saliu, was patronised by one of the suspects and after having sex with her, he reportedly paid her the agreed feed of N1,000 for the service. Then, the customer was said to have left her room when Hannah suddenly discovered that her N5,000 had gone missing.

She reportedly ran after the customer and accused him of stealing her money, which then degenerated into an argument. This customer was then said to have mobilised his friends to Hannah's room to search for the missing money and while searching, they reportedly found a copy of the Koran underneath her pillow.

One source said Hannah was questioned for possessing the Koran with the kind of job she was doing, adding that the customer and his friends, who became infuriated by the discovery, pounced on her, beat her up and set her ablaze. According to police sources, the three men have been identified as Abubakar Musa, Sarauta Monsur and Surajo Yusuf.

Another source added:  “What happened was that the girl was a prostitute and a customer patronised her and after sleeping with her, the customer paid N1,000 for her service. However, when the customer was leaving, he stole the prostitute’s N5,000 and after discovering that her money had gone missing, the prostitute chased him to ask for her money.

“The northerners, who were with the customer that the girl accused of stealing her money, asked if she was sure that he stole her money. So, they decided to go and search her room where she attended to her customers.

“While searching the room, they found Quran under her pillow and started asking what she was using the Quran for as a prostitute. So, they started attacking her, they stabbed her, took her out and set her ablaze.

“The incident happened at Alaba Rago, where a lot of northerners reside and the girl that was killed also came from the north. Their grouse was that she was not supposed to be carrying the Koran because of the kind of work she was doing.”

Benjamin Hundeyin, a spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, conformed the incident.  He added that the case is at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba and three suspects have been charged to court.