Hanifa: Proprietor, Tanko, admits kidnap, denies killing her

Abdulmalik Tanko, the selfconfessed killer and proprietor of the school of late five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar has once again denied knowledge of how the girl died.

Tanko made the denial yesterday when the court trying him resumed for the beginning of defence hearing at High Court 5 sitting at Audu Bako and presided over by Justice Usman Na’abba.

Tanko who recently admitted to only conspiracy denied the remaining three charges against him, including the kidnapping and subsequent killing of the girl.

At the hearing yesterday, he admitted to kidnapping the girl and demanding N100,000 ransom.

While admitting to taking Hanifa to his school and locking her up, he said, “I am not sure if I am the last person who saw her alive because I had earlier communicated to someone else about it. I did not kill her or poison her. I left her sleeping and came back to see her dead.

“I, the second and third defendants did not know how she died.”

Daily Trust reported that baby Hanifa was abducted on December 4, 2021, on her way home from Islamiyya and subsequently discovered to have been killed by her teacher and school proprietor, Abdulmalik Tanko, after demanding N6m ransom in the Kawaji area of Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano State.

Earlier, Tanko confessed to have kidnapped and killed the victim with N100 rat poison before burying her remains in a shallow grave in one of his schools.

The trio of Tanko, Hashim Isyaku and Fatima Bashir were arraigned before the Kano State High Court on five count charges bordering on criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, confinement and culpable homicide contrary to Sections 97, 274, 277, 221 of the Penal Code.

The case was adjourned yesterday to May 10 for the continuation of defence.