The legal case surrounding Hanifa Abubakar, the five-year-old girl who was murdered in 2021 came to an end on New Year day.
A Court of Appeal in Kano has dismissed an appeal by Abdulmalik Tanko, the school proprietor convicted of the kidnapping and murder of his five-year-old pupil, Hanifa Abubakar.
Justice A. R. Muhammad affirmed the court’s 2022 ruling, stating that the evidence against Tanko was compelling and convincing.
This is the final legal battle to uphold the death sentence of Hanifa’s killer, Abdulmalik Tanko, before the case moves from the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court
Dawn Herald gathered that in December 2021, Tanko, the owner of Noble Kids Academy, abducted Hanifa, a pupil at his school. After a failed ransom attempt of ₦6 million, Tanko poisoned the girl with rat poison and buried her in a shallow grave on the school grounds.
The case previously ignited a massive #JusticeForHanifa movement on social media and led to the temporary revocation of all private school licenses in Kano State for a security audit.
The three-man panel led by Justice Muhammad found no merit in the arguments of the defense and upheld the sentence of death by hanging.
The court also affirmed the death sentence for Isyaku Hashim, who assisted in burying the body and the prison term for Fatima Jibril.
The Court of Appeal found no justification to overturn or interfere with the lower court’s decision. The prosecution’s case was compelling – Justice A. R. Muhammad
Tanko’s legal team has 30 days to file a final appeal with the Supreme Court, or face the final verdict from the executive branch.
Leave a comment