First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has joined several Nigerians in calling for capital punishment for the killer of Hanifa Abubakar, the five-year-old girl abducted and murdered by her teacher in Kano state.
Abdulmalik Tanko, proprietor of Noble Kids Academy in Kawaji, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state, confessed to killing the innocent child.
After kidnapping her in December and collecting N100,000 as part of the N6 million ransom he had demanded, Mr Tanko allegedly killed her with rat poison because she recognized him.
He had dismembered and buried her secretly at one of the branches of the school.
However, Tanko was nabbed by security agencies while trying to get the second tranche of the ransom.
Since his arrest alongside other accomplices, there has been widespread outrage over the killing, with #JusticeForHanifa trending on social media for days.
On her part, Mrs Buhari shared a short clip of a sermon by a Kano-based Islamic scholar, Abdallah Gadon Kaya, demanding justice for the late Hanifa.
In the video, Mallam Kaya asked that Tanko be killed the same way he killed Hanifa, saying the life of Hanifa’s alleged killer is not in any way better.
Speaking in hausa, Mallam Kaya adding;
His (Tanko’s) life is not more than this girl’s life, the way he took her life, his life should be taken also and let it be done publicly so that another person wouldn’t repeat such.
He said the proprietor should be executed publicly, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abdullahi Ganduje can get this done.
First Lady had reposted the video on her Instagram page, expressing support for the cleric’s call.
Read Also: #JusticeForHanifa: Buhari Mourns 5-Year-Old Kano Student Kidnapped, Brutally Murdered By Teacher
The president’s wife wrote in Hausa “Muna Goyon Bayan Hukunchin Malam“, meaning we are in support of your judgment/ we are fully behind your position.
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Last Thursday, Tanko led police officers to the school premises and showed them where he buried the schoolgirl’s body in a shallow grave.
Her remains were then exhumed for medical examination and a proper burial by her family.
Tanko has not yet been charged as of the time of filing this report.
Speaking in an emotional voice, the girl’s father, Abubakar Abdussalam, told journalists the family was traumatised. Hanifa’s mother was admitted to the hospital after she collapsed and fainted, he said.
Read Also: #JusticeForHanifa: Ganduje Vows To Get Justice For Murdered 5-Year-Old Schoolgirl
He demanded justice from the authorities and returned all glory back to God, stressing;
I am really in sorrow about this incident. I can only thank God because this can happen to anyone, and it is said that everyone who lives today will die someday. So, I leave everything to God, but I will never forget this till I die.
Nigeria is grappling with a spate of criminal incidents with kidnapping for ransom very common, mostly by armed bandits who sometimes target schools for mass abductions of students.
The death penalty, as demanded by Mrs Buhari and the Islamic cleric, is still legal in Nigeria for some crimes such as murder. However, many rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have called for its abolition.
