Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Governor of Kano State, assured the parents of five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by the proprietor of her school, Abdulmalik Tanko, yesterday that he would sign the death warrants for her killers as soon as the trial court handed down death sentences.
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Ganduje revealed this during a condolence visit to the family’s residence in Dakata/Kawaji with his Deputy, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna; Majority Leader, State House of Assembly, Labaran Abdul Madari, and other top government functionaries.
In response to Hanifa’s murder, the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has openly endorsed the call for the assassins of the five-year-old to face the death penalty.
Meanwhile, Tanko and his two accomplices, Hamisu Isyaku and Fatima Jibrin, who was arraigned yesterday before Magistrate Court 12 in Gidan Murtala, Kano, and presided over by Magistrate Muhammad Jibril, have been detained in a state correctional facility.
In response to Hanifa’s supporters, Ganduje stated, “We have solid confirmation from the court managing the procedure that justice will be served.” There will be no stone untouched. Anyone found guilty of this horrible crime will be sentenced to death immediately. We have already begun the process as a government.
“Our constitution states that when a death sentence is imposed, the governor has the constitutional authority to consent to the execution of the perpetrator.” I tell you that I will not spend a single second.”
On the legal proceedings, he assured the parents that justice would be served quickly, saying, “The government would take excellent care of the family of our late child, Hanifa, of blessed memory,” and promising that the government will take action about the impacted school.
Mrs. Buhari, for her part, welcomed the request for execution sentence in a posted video of an Islamic scholar on her verified Instagram page, writing in Hausa that she accepted the cleric’s decision, stating, “We embrace the judgment of Malam.”
According to the video, the priest, who spoke in Hausa, was heard suggesting that the killer of Hanifa should face the death penalty.
“He should be removed from this world in the same way that he removed this girl from this world, and it should be done in public.” “He should be murdered in front of all eyes so that nobody commits such an atrocity tomorrow,” the preacher stated, adding that capital punishment will serve as a deterrent to those who want to commit such heinous deeds.
However, when the matter was summoned for mention yesterday, the state government’s counsel, Musa Lawan, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, together with eleven other attorneys, asked the court to read the accusations to the suspects in Hausa for better comprehension, which the court-approved.
The suspects were not given the option to plead guilty or not guilty after the accusations were read to them because the court lacked the authority to hear the case.
Lawan also requested that the suspects be remanded in the detention facility so that the state may file charges against them and arraign them in an appropriate court for prosecution.
As a result, Magistrate Jibril ordered the suspects to be remanded at the Kurmawa Correctional Centre, as requested by the state’s counsel, and delayed the case until February 2.
Lawan told the press immediately after the hearing that the suspects were charged in court even though the court had no jurisdiction since the police had completed their investigations and had no authority to detain them in prison any longer.
“Of obviously, the magistrate court lacks authority to hear this matter.” The essential is that, as you can see from the system, the police performed an investigation, completed their investigation in the quickest amount of time feasible, and brought the matter to us.
We can’t prepare the charges today or tomorrow, and the police can’t detain them in jail since the law doesn’t allow them the authority. They must bring them to court, which is why they are present today. As you may have heard, the case has been deferred until February 2nd, and the charges will be available before then.
“The magistrate granted our request to remand them in custody.” Before then, I guarantee you, the charges would have been ready, and we would have charged them to the correct court,” Lawan added, repeating that the state will compile the charges against the suspects within seven days and file them to the most appropriate court for a swift trial.
