Najeebat Sule shot dead in the US, no follow-up

The second runner-up of Miss Nigeria 2019, Najeebat Sule, 24, has reportedly been shot dead in the United States, while sitting in her car, a few steps from her residence in the 8800 block of Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia.

The US media is reporting a rather tragic event on Thursday, 1 April 2021. A winner of the 2019 edition of the Nigerian beauty pageant was shot and killed by an unidentified individual. The woman is Najeebat Sule. The crime was committed while the young woman was in her car outside her home in the 8800 block of Frankford Avenue. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, nearly three weeks after the murder of the 24-year-old woman, police have yet to make an arrest, leaving Sule’s family and friends in a state of limbo.

According to the same source, the father of the deceased, Adewale Sule, was in their living room when he heard the gunshots. « When I heard the shots, I came out. I saw the guy shoot my daughter. He fired the last shot and I chased him. … He ran back to his car, » the father said. It was also reported that Adewale and his wife have been transferred to an undisclosed location for security reasons.

Habibat Magaji, a close friend of Sule, revealed that they were texting each other about the pictures they had taken after their sleepover when the deceased suddenly stopped responding. « I got a call that something had happened and I thought, ‘No, there’s been a mistake. I’m waiting for her to reply to my message. She had sent me a text message at 5.30 pm (21.30 GMT). I have no idea why anyone would kill her, » she said.

For the record, Najeebat Sule and her family immigrated to Philadelphia from Nigeria in the early 2000s. She recently earned a master’s degree in public health from West Chester University and hoped to earn a doctorate. In 2019, Sule won second place in the Miss Nigeria International pageant.