A doctorate student and former Miss Nigeria pageant finalist was fatally shot on the evening of March 12 outside of her family home.
"I saw the guy shooting my daughter," Adewale Sule, the 24-year-old’s father, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He shot the last round and I pursued him. … He ran back to his car."
Najeebat Sule, a student at West Chester University, had been at a girlfriend’s house on the day before the tragic shooting, eating food and watching Netflix. As it got late, the friend requested that Najeebat stay over. The following morning, Najeebat took her car into a shop for repairs and then headed to her parents’ home in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg neighborhood.
While sitting outside of her family home, a gunman approached Najeebat that evening and shot her multiple times. Authorities transported her to a local hospital but she later died from her wounds. As of Thursday, law enforcement officials have not announced any arrests being made in relation to the case.
The victim’s father said he wanted to pursue the shooter but quickly came to his senses, 6 Action News in Philly reports.
"This is the guy that shot my daughter. I tried to pursue him," he lamented. "He tried to turn back to me. I said, 'OK don't let me lose my life.’”
Hours before the 24-year-old’s death, Najeebat phoned her mother for the last time.
“She called me, like, 4:05 p.m. ‘Mommy, what time will you be home?’ I told her … 5:30 because I left work at 5,” Tawakalitu Sule recalled. “All of my children have been crying every day because of their big sister. They really miss her. I miss my daughter.”
The slain student’s parents are terrified and have moved to an undisclosed location. Her friends and networks are also devastated. The friend, 24-year-old Habibat Magaji, who let Najeebat sleepover, said she knew something was wrong after Najeebat stopped texting about the pictures they took the previous night.
“I can’t think of anything that would make anyone want to kill her,” Magaji said.
The celebrated scholar, referred to by her loved ones as “Najee,” was passionate about fashion, shopping and traveling.
“Our joke was that she was like a Nigerian princess,” Tamira DeSeignoria, who met her as a high school student, said. “Whatever Najee wanted, Najee got. When you walked in her room, it was pink everywhere. One week her sheets were diva print. Another week it was glitter. It was just a room that any feminine female would want. Her room was just like how her personality was.”
Miss Nigeria International officials spoke highly of the second runner-up in the 2019 pageant on social media, writing, “In spite of the highly competitive nature of beauty pageants, Queen Najeebat took it all in stride and easily made friends with all the other girls and fostered an environment where most of the girls became like sisters. Although she was the second runner up in the contest, she was genuinely happy for the girl that emerged as the winner and cheered her on as though she was her own sister.”
A bright shining light has been extinguished and life will never be the same. We at Miss Nigeria International are…
Posted by Miss Nigeria International on Friday, March 19, 2021
Police officials confirmed to 6 Action News that their investigation is still pending.
