By Akinwale Kasali
After months of trial, a Kano State High Court on Thursday, July 28th, 2022 sentenced the Proprietor of Nobel Kids Academy and North West Preparatory School, Abdulmalik Tanko, to death by hanging for the kidnap and killing of five-year-old schoolgirl, Hanifa Abubakar.
Justice Usman Na’abba, Judge, also, sentenced Tanko to five years imprisonment for the four-count charges leveled against him, aside the death sentence for kidnapping.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State had earlier vowed to sign the death sentence of Tanko without delay if given by the Court.
Hanifa, until her death, was a pupil of Noble Kids Comprehensive College – a school located in Kwanar ‘Yan Gana in Tudun Murtala Quarters in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state, before her abduction by Tanko who demanded ransom from her parents but killed her in December 2021.
Following the suspect’s arrest, the State Government arraigned Tanko alongside two others at the State High Court who are his accomplices in the dastardly act.
