Abdulsalam, made the remark in reaction to the court judgement that sentenced the killer, Tanko Abdulmalik, and his accomplice, Hashimu Ishyaku, to death by hanging.

He also commended the court for the judgment.

“I’m happy that Hanifa, my daughter, has gotten justice.We appreciate everyone’s effort in this case, justice has been well served,” Abdulsalami stated.

Hanifa was kidnapped some time in December, 2021, by her proprietor, Tanko.

He said since the beginning of the case, he never thought of not getting justice, and thanked the people of the state for the support and encouragement they had given them throughout the trial period.

“I am really short of words to express my gratitude and thankfulness to the people of Kano. We really appreciate them because they stood by us during the trial and we will never forget this singular honour,” he said.

“God had already passed the judgement even before coming to the court and I thank the court for delivering a fair judgement,” he added.

Abdulsalam, who looked calm, prayed to God to reward all those who sympathised and supported them from the beginning up to the end of the trial.

“May the Almighty Allah reward all those who stood behind us from the beginning up to the end of the trial period. May He reward them abundantly,” he prayed.

The presiding judge fixed the date for judgment today June 14 after the adoption of final written addresses by parties.

Late Hanifa was abducted on December 4, 2021, on her way home from Islamiyya School and subsequently discovered to have been killed. After much investigation, Tanko was arrested and he confessed to kidnapping and killing the victim with N100 rat poison before burying her in a shallow grave in one of his schools but he recanted later, admitting only to kidnapping her.

The trio of Abdulmalik alongside his accomplice, Hashim Isyaku and Fatima Jibril Musa, 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.

At the resumed hearing of the case today, the prosecution led by Lamido Abba Soron Dinki, urged the court to consider the totality of the evidence tendered before it to find the defendants guilty of the charges leveled against them and sentence them to death.

“We urge the court to pass death sentence on all the defendants because the punishment of those sections under which they are all charged carried the same punishment of death penalty” he prayed

Tanko, Hashimu Isyaku, 37, and Fatima Musa, 26, are facing four-count of culpable homicide, conspiracy, kidnapping and concealing/keeping in confinement a kidnapped person.

When the case was slated for mention on Wednesday, the prosecution counsel, who is the Kano State Director of Public Prosecutions, Aisha Mahmoud, informed the court that the prosecution had filed charges before a Kano High Court.

Mahmoud said, “We filed the charges because the offences allegedly committed by the defendants are not eligible to be tried by this court.

“The Kano Chief Judge has directed the case to High Court 5. We applied for another date to terminate the First Information Report before this court.”

Tanko, who is the proprietor of Nobel Kids Comprehensive College, Kano, was alleged to have conspired with the two others to kidnap Hanifa. Mahmoud alleged that Tanko held Hanifa hostage in his house, located at the Tudun Murtala Quarters of Kano for six days and killed her with rat poison, put her remains in a sack and buried her in a shallow grave.

“The defendants collected the sum of N100,000 out of the N6m ransom earlier demanded from the victim’s family,” the prosecutor stated.

In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril ordered the remand of the defendants in a correctional centre and adjourned the matter till February 9, 2022, for further mention.