The murder of a 5-year-old schoolgirl has caused an outcry in the Muslim north of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, where the First Lady notably supports calls for the public execution of the main suspect.
Hanifa Abubakar was kidnapped in December. She was later poisoned with rat poison and then buried in a shallow grave in Kano, a sprawling city in the north of the country, local police said.
The owner of the school she attended, Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko, was arrested and admitted to having abducted the girl for ransom before poisoning her, according to the same source.
This umpteenth tragedy in northern Nigeria, the scene of child abductions, has sown terror among the local population. Parents said they were afraid to send their terrified children back to school.
Mannir Haruna, a textile merchant in Kano, said his eight-year-old son “has not left the house since the discovery of Hanifa’s decomposing body and the arrest of the teacher” and that he is now “afraid to set foot outside the house.
According to the police, Mr. Tanko organized the abduction of the girl with the help of two other people to demand a ransom of 6 million naira (regarding 13,000 euros) from her father. But when the schoolgirl recognized the main suspect, he forced her to swallow the poison before burying his body.
On Tuesday, the three suspects were charged with kidnapping, criminal association and homicide, according to Kano police spokesman Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa.
Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday backed a call by a famous ultra-conservative cleric, Sheikh Abdallah Umar Gadonkaya alias “Malam”, for the public execution of the suspect to set an example.
“We support Malam’s verdict,” she wrote on her Instagram account with the hashtag #JusticeforHanifa (#JusticeforHanifa).
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said she was “outraged and deeply outraged” by the girl’s death, calling for “justice to be done for Hanifa and all the girls who suffer these atrocities”.
Northwestern Nigeria is the scene of criminal gangs that turn to mass kidnappings targeting schoolchildren and students for ransom.
In 2021, nearly 1,500 schoolchildren were kidnapped during 20 mass kidnappings in the region which claimed the lives of 16 children and adolescents, according to Unicef.
Most of them were released following negotiations and the alleged payment of ransoms.
