Nigerian PhD student Najeebat Sule shot dead in US, no clue on gunman

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Almost three weeks after Nigerian doctorate student, Najeebat Sule was shot dead in Philadelphia, United States, the police remain clueless about the gunman.

No arrest has been made as the gunman remains at large.

Najeebat, a runner-up in Miss Nigeria International pageant in 2019, was shot by a lone gunman while sitting in her car, almost in front of her family’s home.

She was 24 and had just earned a Masters degree in public health at West Chester University.

She was pursuing a doctorate, reports said.

Reports said she was killed shortly before 6pm on March 12, just steps away from her residence in the 8800 block of Frankford Avenue.

Nearly three weeks later, police have not found a motive and have made no arrests, leaving Sule’s family and friends searching for answers.

Her parents are now also in hiding out of fear for their lives.

 ‘I can’t think of anything that would make anyone want to kill her,’ Sule’s close friend Habibat Magaji, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Magaji was among the last people to have seen Sule alive before she was gunned down.

The two women had spent the night before at Magaji’s home, eating snacks and watching Netflix together.

Less than 24 hours later, Sule was sitting in her gray Toyota Corolla, exchanging text messages with Magaji, when an unidentified man walked up to the vehicle with a gun drawn and shot her several times.

Sule’s father, Adewale Sule, heard the gunfire and emerged from the house just in time to see the suspect fire the last of the shots at his daughter.

‘I saw the guy shooting my daughter. He shot the last round and I pursued him,’ said the father. ‘He ran back to his car.’

Najeet was rushed to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

Her mother, Tawakalitu Sule, said she last heard from Najeet less than two hours before the shooting, when her daughter asked her when she was going to be home.

‘All of my children have been crying every day because of their big sister. They really miss her. I miss my daughter,’ she said.