Murder of Hanifa Abubakar

Hanifa Abubakar (born April 5, 2016) was a Nigerian girl who was kidnapped and murdered by Abdumalik Tanko, the proprietor of her school Noble Kids Academy in Nassarawa, Kano State, Nigeria. The case received national attention due to the young age of the victim and the manner of her death.

Background
She was the only daughter of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Abubakar.

Disappearance and murder
Hanifa Abubakar left for an evening Islamic school on December 2, 2021 at her hometown of Kwantar Dakata, Nasarawa, Kano State. On her way back from the Islamic school that evening, her school proprietor, Abdulmalik Tanko showed up in a tricycle and abducted her among other pupils of her age, among whom nobody knew him. According to him, he initially met his friend, Aliyu Isiyaku and a lady, Fatima Musa and instructed them to fetch Hanifa in a tricycle, lying to them that it was the girl's mother who asked him to get the girl after school. Isiyaku drove off to the school, with Fatima accompanying him. However, Hanifa refused to follow them. Tanko then took the tricycle and headed to fetch the girl himself. Since she recognised him, Hanifa didn't hesitate to follow him. He drove her to his house at Tudun Murtala, Nassarawa Local Government Area in Kano State and kept her under his wife's custody. When his wife inquired, he said Hanifa was a child of one of his teachers who had traveled and kept the girl under his custody until she returns. On December 4, 2021, he contacted her families and demanded a ransom ₦6,000,000.00 ($14,600). On December 18, 2021, Mr. Abdulmalik realized that Hanifa recognized him. After he finished drinking tea around 23:00hrs, he put the remaining tea in an empty container of Bobo Yoghurt (a yoghurt-based milk drink for the children), and poured rat poison inside the tea. He picked her from his house when she was already sleeping and told her that he was taking her back to her uncle's house. On their way, he gave Hanifa the drink and she drank it, he told her that he had to pick up something from one of their schools at Kwanar Yan Gana Tudun Murtala, Nassarawa. When they entered the school, Hanifa finally died. He put her corpse in a sack and buried her in a shallow grave with the help of one Hashim Isyaku.

Investigation and discovery
After sustained efforts and prolonged follow up by Nigerian Police Force and Department of State Security (DSS) led to arrest of Abdulamalik Tanko, the proprietor of her school Noble Kids Academy in Nassarawa, Kano State. Mr Tanko confessed that he kidnapped Hanifa and killed her after he noticed that she recognized him. He conspired with Hashim Isyaku to bury her in the school premises. Upon the arrest, Abdulmalik and Hashim led the combined team of Department of State Service operatives, police operatives and police command medical team to the grave. The body was exhumed and taken to Mohammed Abdullahi Wase Specialists Hospital, Kano, where it was examined and later released to the relatives for burial.

Reactions
The death of Hanifa attracted media interest around the world with #JusticeForHanifa trending on social media to express their shock and sadness. The Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje revoked the operational licenses of all private schools in the state in order to sanitize the operation of private schools to avoid the reoccurrence of similar cases. Despite the government action to shutdown the school indefinitely, 24 January 2022, some unknown angry youths stormed the school premises in the middle of the night and set the school on fire.

Trial
On 24 January 2022, Abdulmalik and the remaining suspects Isyaku Hashim and Fatima Jibril were arranged to magistrate court in Kano. They were both accused of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, concealing/keeping in confinement a kidnapped person and culpable homicide.

On 28 July 2022, a Kano State High Court sentenced Abdulmalik and Hashim to death, while Jibril was sentenced to two years imprisonment.