Kano youths burn school where five-year-old girl was murdered

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3 years ago

SOME angry youths in Kano State have razed the property used as a school where a five-year-old girl, Hanifa Abubakar, was killed last week allegedly by the school proprietor, Abdulmalik Tanko.

Residents of Dakata area in Kwanar Dakata, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state where the Noble Kids Academy is located, however, condemned the burning down of the building, saying the structure was not owned by the suspect.

Angry youths, on Sunday night, set the building ablaze.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the area on Monday, it was observed that the upper part of the building was completely burnt.

It was also learnt that the security personnel deployed outside the school premises were not at the scene when the aggrieved persons stormed the area.

Some residents who spoke in separate interviews told the Nigerian Tribune that the aggrieved persons set the school on fire at about 1:00 a.m., adding that it took the intervention of residents and operatives of the state fire service to put out the fire.

A source who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune said the youths burnt down the property in reaction to the murder of the five-year-old girl.

A source, Malam Ibrahim Muhammad, said residents of the area woke up on Monday morning to discover that the property had been burnt down overnight.

Meanwhile, a Kano State magistrates’ court presided over by Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibir has ordered Tanko, the suspected killer of Hanifa, to be remanded at a correctional centre.

The police on Monday arraigned Tanko and two others before the magistrates’ court at Gidan Murtala in Kano metropolis, on charges of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, concealing/keeping in confinement a kidnapped person and culpable homicide.

The accused was not represented, while Mr Lamido Soron Dinki was the prosecuting counsel.

After the charges were read to the accused, he was later remanded in prison custody and the case adjourned till February 2.

Meanwhile, the state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said once judgment is passed in the court, he will assent to the death sentence.

The governor made this known when he led a delegation of top government officials to condole with the family of the deceased on Monday.

Members of the governor’s entourage included his deputy, Dr Nasuru Yusuf Gawuna; the Majority Leader in the House of Assembly, Honourable Labaran Abdul Madari, and other top government functionaries.

Ganduje said: “We have good confirmation from the court handling the process that justice will be done. No stone will be left unturned.”

Whoever is found guilty of this heinous offence will also face death without wasting any time. As a government, we have already started the process.

“Our constitution provides that when a death sentence is passed, it is the constitu- tional power of the governor to assent for the execution of the culprit. I assure you all that I will not waste even one second.”

Meanwhile, the state government, in its effort to sanitise the administration of private schools as well curtail reccurrence of bad incidents, has resolved to revoke the certificate of all private schools in order to revalidate their certification.

The government had earlier ordered the immediate closure of Noble Kids Academy, where the proprietor, Tanko, allegedly murdered Hanifa.

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The state government has now asked private schools to come forward for revalidation of certificate.

The Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Sanusi Kiru, announced the decision on Monday at a news conference, adding that the ministry would set criteria for their recertification.

He noted that a panel had been constituted, consisting of the Ministry of Justice, Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), private school owners association, and other agencies to look into the revalidation of all private schools in the state.

The commissioner said the revalidation exercise would be fast-tracked for smooth conduct.

He noted that students in private schools whose operational licences would not be restored after the exercise would be transferred to other schools.

Kiru said: “Presently, we have seven directorates for private schools headed by a director and the 44 local government areas of the state have been zoned to these directorates.

“If we discover that any private school is not registered after the exercise, the director in charge of the zone will answer questions on that.”