The second and third defendants in the case of abduction and murder of Hanifa Abubakar have accused the principal suspect, Abdulmalik Tanko, of deceit in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the five-year-old pupil.

In their defense before the Kano State High Court, Hashimu Isyaku and Fatima Jibril, on Wednesday, argued that Tanko did not reveal the true circumstances.

Isyaku said the principal suspect informed him that the kidnapping was staged by Hanifa’s mother’s cooperation to prevent her husband from picking a second wife.

He said: “Tanko told me she wanted her daughter to be kidnapped so that the husband would forget about the marriage. He took out his phone and showed me a picture. It was the girl’s picture. I told him it was an offence. He said the woman said she’s her daughter; so no problem.

“The following day, he came to my house and met me and gave me his phone and showed me the same picture. He then showed me a GSM number and told me that he would take me on a tricycle and direct the driver where to drop me and I should call the number as I alighted.

“After he called the driver and directed him on where to stop, he said we would see students coming back from school and that I should call the recipient of that number and look for the girl in that picture. Once we saw the girl in that picture, we should come and inform him.

“We stopped at Dakata junction and called the number he showed me. I heard the voice of a woman. She asked if it was Abdulmalik, I said no but it was his phone. She asked where I was and I said I was at Dakata junction. She then said she was coming.

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“After she came, we went to the place and in no time the children started coming. I took out the phone and opened the picture. We saw the girl that resembled the girl in the picture. That’s when we went back and parted ways,” Isyaku told the court.

Although Isyaku admitted to helping Tanko to bury the corpse of the pupil, he, however, said he was deceived into burying it as a foetus belonging to Tanko’s neighbour.

“Tanko told me that a woman in their neighbourhood had a miscarriage and he wanted him to help bury a foetus. He showed me where to dig the shallow grave and when I was digging, he came with something inside a sack and put it into the grave and I covered it,” the second defendant added.

Fatima Jibril, the third defendant, told the court that Tanko promised to marry her if she participated in the abduction without causing any problem.

Fatima said that since the day she left Isyaku, she had not communicated with him until their arrest.

The presiding judge, Justice Usman Na’abb, therefore adjourned the case until June 14, 2022.

The Star