Hanifa: Execution of court judgment expected to be swift

After eight months of court trial of three suspects arraigned in the gruesome murder of a five-year old pupil of the Noble Kids Comprehensive College in Kano by the school’s proprietor, Abdulmalik Muhammmad Tanko, the prime culprit, the Kano State High Court, presided over by Justice Usman Na’abba, Thursday, sentenced two of them to death by hanging, bringing relieve to both parents of the late toddler and many in the country.

It would also be recalled that State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje had already vowed, back in December, this year, that the verdict of the court will be carried out swiftly.

The court ruling brings to an end the eight month long trial of the three suspects over a murder which shook the entire nations and called to question the competence and repute of below-tertiary academic institutions in the country and their level of administration.

The sentencing also brings to an end the wish of the Kano people in particular and Nigerians in general, to see the judiciary uphold justice.

This is so because elsewhere across the country, similar cases involving abuses by school owners and administrators on pupils and students alike are still lingering in courts while many are yet at the prosecution stages.

The instances are replete; from Lagos, Delta, Osun states, private school owners and administrators enjoy the luxury of official cover-ups at the highest levels of the Nigerian society aided from the security and judicial quarters.

Although, Tanko, Hashimu Isiyaku and Fatima Musa, who stood trial on charges bordering on culpable homicide, kidnapping, concealing, and confinement of a kidnapped person, had already confessed to the crimes even before arraignment, many in the country had already resigned to themselves to the usual long and protracted court trials that would quietly end with soft landing for the culprits, especially when the media spotlight would have died down away from the eyes of the people..

The Kano trio were accused of the kidnap and subsequent murder of Hanifa Zubair with rat poison powder and, thereafter, burying her in a shallow grave after collecting the sum of N100,000 being part payment of the N6 million ransom they had demanded from the parents of the victim.

Hanifa Zubair was reportedly kidnapped for ransom on December 2, last year, by proprietor of the school, Abdulmalik Tanko, but murdered even after the ransom money was paid by the deceased’s parents.

Tanko had confessed to the crime, claiming he murdered Hanifa following fears that late girl was going to expose him for the crime.

The prime suspect reportedly drugged his victim with rat poison, and proceeded to bury her behind the school yard.

Hanifa’s remains were discovered buried in a shallow grave when policemen visited the school located at Kwanar Dakata in Nassarawa Local Government Area, Kano, last Thursday.

Hanifa was the only child of the parents.

Already, the state government has revoked the operating license of the school, Noble Kids Comprehensive College, even as angry youths in the state set the institution ablaze.

The case which was originally listed at a Magistrate’s Court was transferred to the state High Court for hearing in February.

This followed the request of the Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril of Magistrate Court 12, sitting at Gidan Murtala in Kano State who had ordered the case of Abdulmalik Tanko and his accomplices to be transferred to the State High Court number 6 before Justice Usman Na’abba on February 9, 2022.

Counsel to the state government led by Aisha Mahmoud applied to the court to adjourn the case to a higher court as the magistrate has no jurisdiction over the case.

“The offences alleged to have been committed by the defendants are not triable by this court, so we are applying for a count charges before the High Court,” Mahmoud said.

The court also ordered that the suspects be remanded in prison custody before re-arraignment in the next court.

Delivering judgement, Thursday, Justice Na’abba said the convicts conspired to kidnap Hanifa from Sheik Dahiru Bauchi Islamic Foundation in Kano, and killed the child.

The five-year-old girl was then buried in a shallow grave in Northwest Preparatory School, located at Kwanar Yan Ghana, in Nassarawa Local Government Area, Kano.

The prosecution team, led by the 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.

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, a nursing mother, but she was sentenced to one year for conspiracy and one year for attempting to commit the offence.

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje had already vowed to comply with whatever decision the court arrives at in the trial.

During a visit to the family of the deceased, in December, last year, Governor Ganduje assured that he will speedily assent to the ruling of the court when it is made.

Ganduje paid the condolence visit to the slain schoolgirl’s family in Dakata/Kawaji along with his deputy, Dr Nasuru Yusuf Gawuna; Majority Leader, State House of Assembly, Labaran Abdul Madari; and other top government functionaries.

“I will abide by the constitutional provision as the Governor of Kano to assent to the death sentence in the circumstance the judgment passed by the court against the culprits.

“We have good confirmation from the court handling the process that justice would be done. No stone would be left unturned.

“Whoever is found guilty of this heinous offence will also face death without wasting any time. As a government, we have already started the process.

“Our constitution provides that, when a death sentence is passed, it is the constitutional power of the governor to assent to the execution of the culprit. I assure you all that, I will not waste even one second,” Ganduje added.

On the speed of the proceeding, he further encouraged that there would be a speedy dispensation of justice, adding that, “the government will take good care of the family of our late child Hanifa of blessed memory.”

Ganduje also said his government would do something about the schools affected by the tragedy.