Hanifa’s Death: Court sentences school proprietor to death by hanging

The Kano State High Court on Thursday sentenced the proprietor of Nobel Kids Academy and North West Preparatory School, Abdulmalik Tanko, to death for the kidnap and killing of five-year-old schoolgirl, Hanifa Abubakar.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Usman Na’abba, also sentenced Tanko to five years imprisonment for the four-count charges levelled against him.

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, earlier this year had vowed to sign the death sentence without further delay if given by the court.

Until her death, Hanifa was a pupil of Noble Kids Comprehensive College – a school located in Kwanar ‘Yan Gana in Tudun Murtala Quarters in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state.

She was abducted by Mr Tanko who demanded ransom from her parents and was reported to have killed her in December last year.

Following the suspect’s arrest, the state government arraigned Tanko alongside two others at the State High Court.

The prosecution team led by Kano State Attorney General, Musa Abdullahi Lawan, in his effort to prove his case, called eight witnesses and tendered 14 exhibits.

The witnesses included the mother of the deceased, Murja Suleiman Zubair; DSS operatives who arrested Abdulmalik, and police officers who investigated the case.

However, the exhibit tendered included confessional statements of the convicts, a photograph of the deceased, a hijab, and an Islamic school badge, among others.

The prosecution failed to establish the charge of abetment against Fatima, but she was sentenced to one year for conspiracy and one year for attempting to commit the offence.