The Kano State Government, yesterday, re-arraigned a school proprietor, Abdulmalik Tanko, 34, before a Kano High Court for alleged murder of five-year-old school pupil, Hanifa Abubakar.
Tanko, alongside Hashimu Isyaku, 37 and Fatima Musa, 26, who lives at Tudun Murtala Quarters, Kano, is facing a five-count charge along with the other two accused persons, of criminal conspiracy, attempt to kidnap, abetment, kidnapping and concealing dead body.
Tanko and Isyaku pleaded guilty on the first count charge of criminal conspiracy and pleaded not guilty to the other four count charges, while the third defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The Prosecutor, who is also the Attorney General of Kano state, Barr Musa Abdullahi-Lawan, informed the court that, sometimes, in November 2021, the defendants conspired and kidnapped the five-year-old Hanifa while she was returning from Islamiyya school.
He alleged that Tanko, the proprietor of Nobel Kids Comprehensive College, Kano, had on December 4, 2021, kidnapped and held Hanifa hostage in his house situated at Tudun Murtala for days and killed her with poison.
“In the process, the second defendant, Isyaku, buried her in a shallow grave in the premises of Northwest Preparatory School, situated at Kwanar Yan Ghana, Tudun Murtala, Kano.
“On December 27, 2021, the third defendant, Musa, wrote a letter to the victim’s family, on behalf of Tanko, demanding N6 million as ransom.”
Abdullahi-Lawan told the court that the prosecution will present four witnesses or more to prove their case on the next adjourned date.