Abdulmalik Tanko, a teacher at Noble Kids Nursery and Primary School, Kawana, Kano state, has been arrested over the killing and brutal killing of Hanifa Abubakar, a five-year-old pupil of his school.
Hanifa was abducted at Kawaji, in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, December 4, 2021, on her way home from Islamic school.
Following this, her abductors demanded N6 million ransom, however the kidnappers killed Hanifa despite collecting part of the N6m demanded.
According to Kano state police command, the young girl was brutally killed having realized that the victim recognised them.
They decided to poisoned her to death before butchering and burying her in a shallow grave.
Her uncle, Suraj Suleiman, confirmed the killing and recovery of her remains at a mushroom private school in Tudunwada area of Kano.
According to Suleiman, the abductor first took her to his wife, but the wife refused to keep her.
Her uncle said;
The kidnapper first took Hanifa to his wife, but the wife refused to keep her. He then took her to Tudunwada where he operates a private school, and then laced her tea with rat poison.
After she was poisoned to death, the kidnappers then cut her body into pieces and buried it within the school.
Weeks after the incident, abductors were arrested around Zaria Road in Kano on Thursday night while attempting to collect the second tranche of the ransom.
In a statement on Thursday, Abdullahi Kiyawa, police spokesperson in Kano, confirmed that Tanko killed his pupil when he found that she had recognised him.
The statement reads;
Some time on the 04/12/2021 at about 2030hrs, a report was received from a resident of Dakata Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State that, one Hanifa Abubakar, ‘f’, aged 5 years old, was kidnapped and a ransom of Six Million Naira (N6,000,000.00) was demanded.
On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, fsi, met with heads of security agencies in the state, re-strategised for effective service delivery and raised a team of Operation Puff Adder led by SP Shehu Dahiru to arrest the culprits.
It added;
Sustained efforts and prolonged follow-up led to the arrest of one Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko, ‘m’, aged 30 years old, of Tudun Murtala Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State and one Hashim Isyaku, ‘m’, aged 37 years old, of same address by a detective team of the Department of State Services (DSS), Kano State.
On investigation, Abdulmalik confessed that, the victim, Hanifa, is his student at a private school in Kwanar Dakata, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State. He kidnapped her and took her to his house where he contacted her relatives and demanded a ransom of Six Million Naira (N6,000,000.00).
The statement continued;
On the 18/12/2021, having realised that the victim recognised him, he claimed to have poisoned her to death, conspired with one Hashim Isyaku, ‘m’, took and buried her in a shallow grave located at the private school premises located at Kwanar ‘Yan Gana, Tudun Murtala Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State.
Hashim also confessed that, sometimes in the month of November 2021, the principal suspect, Abdulmalik met him and one Fatima Jibreel Musa, ‘f’, 27 years old, of Layin Falaki Tudun Murtala Quarters, Nassarawa LGA Kano State and ordered them to kidnap Hanifa. They planned but later rescinded their action. Fatima was also arrested.
The suspects, the police said, led a combined team of security and medical operatives to where the body was buried.
Meanwhile, Hanifa’s corpse was exhumed and taken to the Mohammed Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital Kano where she was confirmed dead.
The police added that the suspects will be charged to court upon completion of investigation.
Additionally, family sources said before his arrest, the school teacher was among the first set of people who came to sympathize with her parents after the abduction.
Uncle of the girl, Suraj Sulaiman, told Daily Nigerian that Tanko shed tears when he visited Hanifa’s parents to console them over the abduction.
“He was full of tears when he visited the family to console them over the abduction,” said Sulaiman.
Watch a video of the suspect being paraded below;
Watch a video showing how Kano police command interrogated the suspected kidnappers and murderers of a 5-year-old Haneefa.
Credit: SP Kiyawa#JusticeForHanifa pic.twitter.com/PWceObdEQa
— Kwankwason Tuwita🔴 (@baba__________) January 20, 2022
See some photos from the scene of exhuming the victim’s body below;
