Aisha Buhari endorses execution of man who kidnapped, killed 5-yr-old Hanifa

Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has endorsed a call by a Muslim cleric for the execution of Abdulmalik Tanko, proprietor of Noble Kids Academy, Kawaji, Nasarawa Local Government Area, Kano state, over the murder of five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM reports that Tanko had confessed to killing little Hanifa, a kindergartener of the academy with rat poison.

Having killed the infant, he dismembered her body and buried her secretly at one of the branches of the school.

Mrs. Buhari’s endorsement for Tanko’s annihilation came as youth of Kawaji were said to have burnt down the school where Hanifa attended.

Hanifa was kidnapped in December and killed shortly after, while her abductors went ahead and collected a N6 million ransom.

It was while trying to get part of the ransom that the proprietor of the school was nabbed by security forces.

READ: Grieving mother attacks teacher who kidnapped, killed 5-yr-old with rat poison

There has been widespread outrage over the killing, with #JusticeForHanifa trending on social media for days.

In a video, which has now gone viral, Malam Abdallah Gadon Kaya, a Kano-based cleric, asked that Tanko be killed the same way he killed Hanifa.

He said the proprietor should be executed publicly, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abdullahi Ganduje can get this done.

“His (Tanko’s) life is not more than this girl’s life, the way he took her life, his life should be taken also and let it be done publicly so that another person wouldn’t repeat such,” the cleric was heard saying in the video.

The First Lady had reposted Kaya’s video on her Instagram page, expressing support for the cleric’s call.

She wrote: “We are behind Mallam’s stance.”