The Murder of Bolanle Raheem

Christmas Day in Ajah

Omobolanle “Bolanle” Raheem was a Lagos-based lawyer. Contemporary reporting identified her as 41 years old and pregnant when she was killed on December 25, 2022. She was travelling with family members when the vehicle reached a police checkpoint in the Ajah area of Lagos.

A shot was fired during the encounter and Raheem was fatally wounded. The killing immediately drew national attention because it involved an armed police officer at a checkpoint and came against a wider background of public concern about police violence and accountability in Nigeria.

Suspension and prosecution

Drambi Vandi, then an Assistant Superintendent of Police attached to the Ajiwe police division, was suspended shortly after the shooting. Lagos State prosecutors charged him with one count of murder under the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

Vandi pleaded not guilty. During the accelerated trial, the prosecution called 11 witnesses, including police personnel, a pathologist and members of Raheem’s family, and tendered 27 exhibits. Vandi testified as the only defence witness.

The evidence dispute

The defence challenged the prosecution’s forensic case and argued that the bullet presented in court could not be conclusively linked to the firearm Vandi carried. Earlier in the proceedings, Vandi filed a no-case submission seeking dismissal of the charge.

Justice Ibironke Harrison rejected that application in April 2023, holding that the prosecution had presented sufficient oral and documentary evidence to require a defence. At the final judgment, the court concluded that the evidence as a whole established Vandi’s responsibility beyond reasonable doubt.

Conviction and sentence

On October 9, 2023, the Lagos State High Court convicted Vandi of murder. The court imposed the death penalty by hanging. Reporting on the judgment states that the judge relied on the overall evidentiary record, including testimony about the shooting and the circumstances at the checkpoint, rather than treating the disputed ballistic point as dispositive.

The sentence is a judicial outcome, not an execution record. Nigeria’s death penalty system includes additional legal and executive steps, and executions are rare. This archive therefore does not describe the sentence as having been carried out.

Current status

The case is classified here as Partially Adjudicated. A murder conviction and sentence were entered by the Lagos State High Court in October 2023. In the sources reviewed for this update through August 28, 2026, no later appellate judgment resolving a final appeal was located. The page therefore records the verified trial-level conviction while avoiding any unsupported claim that all possible appellate proceedings are complete.