The Kano State Government has shut down a private school, Noble Kids Academy, located at Kwanar Dakata, in the Nassarawa Local Government Area, where the body of an abducted girl, Hanifa Abubakar, was buried by the suspects.
The closure of the school was announced by the Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Kiru, in a statement after policemen discovered the corpse of the victim buried in the private school.
Kiru, who expressed sadness over the incident, said apart from the closure of the school, the state government would commence investigation of unregistered private schools and teachers to check such criminal activities.
He appealed to parents whose children attend the private school to stop them from doing so pending the completion of investigation.
The five-year-old victim was whisked away on December 4, 2021 by the kidnappers, who came in a commercial tricycle and lured her to enter for a joyride.
The incident occurred on the fateful day when she and other neighbourhood children were returning from an Islamic school.
This sad occurrence has caught attention of Nigerians on Twitter demanding justice for the poor girl with #JusticeForHanifa.
Meanwhile, Abdulmalik Tanko has been arrested for kidnapping and killing Hanifa despite collecting part of the N6million demanded as a ransom.
Tanko was Hanifa’s school teacher, and there are claims that he killed her because the girl could recognise him.
According to him, the abductor first took her to his wife, but the wife rejected to keep her.
“After his wife rejected to keep Hanifa, he took her to Tudunwada where he operates a private school and then laced her tea with rat poison,” he said.
“After she was poisoned to death, the kidnappers then cut her body into pieces and buried it within the school.”
It was gathered that the abductors were arrested around Zaria Road in Kano last night while attempting to collect the second tranche of the ransom.
