The mother of slain five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday.
38-year-old Murjanatu Abubakar, met eye to eye with suspected killer Abdulmalik Tanko in court.
Nigeria Police arrested the suspects for the kidnapping and killing Hanifa two months ago.
The suspects include her school owner, Ogata Tanko.
Police arrested him after they discovered her dead body in Northwest Preparatory School in Kano City.
Last time in court, the wife of the main suspect told how the husband deceived her.
Jamila Muhammad Sani, wife of the main suspect, gave emotional testimony in court on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
She narrated how her husband deceived her to keep the kidnapped girl at their house.
Read More: 21-Year-Old Lady Found Dead In Abuja Hotel; Family Seeks Justice
Hanifa Abubakar: Principal suspect pleads guilty to criminal conspiracy, denies kidnapping charge
Hanifa Abubakar’s mother met the suspected killer of her child in Kano court, and the court was filled with emotions.
During the hearing on March 30th, 2022, the prosecution lawyers presented Murjanatu as one of the witnesses in the case.
And her testimony made many people cry in court, including some of the lawyers and others present in the courtroom.
Hanifa Abubakar’s mother, who begged for more toilet paper to wipe her tears, described how she met Abdulmalik for the first time as she went to enrol her daughter, Hanifa in the school.
“Hanifa played outside when Northwest Preparatory School’s representative gave her a flyer that she carried home.
I did not want to enrol her in a western education school for now as I wanted to make sure she knows Quran well, but her father insisted that I make her go since she has shown interest.”
I”mmediately we entered the school, Abdulmalik, the school owner, was seated in a chair and Hanifa ran to meet me, holding my hand.”
“And I scolded her, saying she should not do that, and Abdulmalik came over to say no problem madam, we deal with children all the time, so no problem at all,” he said.
Hanifa Abubakar’s mother continued her testimony by saying; “On the day of her kidnap, on December 4th, 2021, her school teacher in my presence called Abdulmalik to inform him about Hanifa and he appeared shocked.”
“And the following day, he came to our house to pray for her safe return.”
Her mother also described how she began to receive text messages asking for ransom for her child, and she also read some of the messages in court.
“They sent me a total of 17 text messages asking for six million naira or else we will not see Hanifa again; they later reduced the money to five million after some time.”
The text messages showed that the sender spoke a different Hausa dialect; which showed that the Kidnapper was not a Kao state indigene .
Murjanatu said she once suspected Abdulmalik for the kidnap and murder of her daughter, seeing the kind of concern that shee had after her disappearance.
The Honourable Justice Usman Na’Abba of the Kano High Court adjourned the case to April 12th, 2022, so the defence team would get a chance to cross examine Hanifa Murjanatu.
