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Abductors have killed eight-year-old Asma’u after collecting over N3m ransom in Zaria 42 days after she was kidnapped.

The incident occurred barely 48 hours after five-year-old Hanifa AAbubaka was kidnapped and poisoned by her teacher in Kano.

Asma’ u was believed to have been abducted by one of her neighbours on December 9, 2021.

The father of the deceased, Alh Shuaibu Wa’alamu, narrated how she was abducted to newsmen in Zaria.

He said: “My daughter was abducted on the 9th of December and when she failed to return home, I lodged a formal complaint with the police.

“After some days, the abductors began to call my number and demanded for N15m. But we negotiated and I first gave them N2m.

“They collected the money in Rigasa area of Kaduna. Later, they called me again and demanded for another N1. 045m as the only condition to release my daughter. I did not argue. But I gave the money to them.

READ ALSO: Bandits abduct five in Zaria

“However, after paying the ransom as demanded on the 19th of January, they called me to tell me they had killed my daughter. And they immediately switched off their phone.

“You see since from the initial stage, I was following her abductors and doing their bidding because of the fear of losing my daughter. Now, they have killed her.

“I know those who abducted her and killed her. They are around us. I have strong evidence. I have told the police. And they are on it. In fact, the suspects have been arrested,” he said.

Kaduna Police Command confirmed the incident.

The Command’s spokesman, ASP Muhammed Jalige, said investigations were ongoing on the incident.

But Jalige could not immediately confirm the arrest of the suspect.

He said: “What I can tell you right now is that investigation are ongoing. I have to get across to our men in Zaria, then details of the incident will be released later.”

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday met former President Olusegun Obasanjo for party matters and the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

The NWC team, led by National Chairman of PDP, Ayu Iyorchia Ayu, which arrived around 11:57 am entered a private meeting with Obasanjo at his Penthouse within the sprawling Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The elder statesman, an hour earlier, had participated in an interdenominational and interfaith service at Oba Adisa Odeleye Park, Abeokuta, in honour of the late Olowu of Owu Kingdom.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo’s provocative statement on Niger Delta oil

The meeting is still holding with the PDP bigwigs at the time of filing the report.

The PDP leaders in attendance were former Ondo Governor Dr. Segun Mimiko; former Cross River Governor Donald Duke; his successor; Liyel Imoke; 2019 PDP vice presidential candidate Dr. Peter Obi; former Jigawa Governor Sule Lamido; former Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Waziri and former Kogi Deputy Governor Yomi Awoniyi among others.

Some irate youths have taken to the streets of Gsshua town, the headquarters of Bade Local Government in protest of the killing of a truck driver by some soldiers on Friday.

The youths took over the streets on Saturday morning, burnt tyres and blocked motorists from moving.

They demanded justice for Mohammed Gashua, the deceased.

Some eyewitnesses informed the driver was shot by a soldier at a filling station after he was allegedly trying to avoid a large convoy of military trucks and other soldiers riding on motorcycles.

Some narrated the soldiers asked everyone not to move or get shot at but the driver, possibly afraid, moved away and was gunned down by the soldiers.

But Governor Mai Mala Buni appealed to the youths to be calm as his government was taking over the investigation of the matter.

READ ALSO: Protests in Osogbo after policeman kills truck driver

The Governor, in a statement by his Director of Press Affairs and Information, Mamman Mohammed, ordered an immediate investigation in the matter for necessary actions.

He described the incident as unfortunate “especially now that we are recording progress in sustainable peace across the state.

His words: “Government and the security authorities would not tolerate any act of recklessness capable of disrupting our hard-earned peace” he said.

“I, therefore, assure you that the government would properly investigate the matter and deal with it decisively.

“I also appeal to our good people of Bade local government area and the entire state to remain calm and law-abiding.

“We should avoid anything detrimental to our peace. You are advised to be good Muslims and take it as the will of Allah and avoid bonfires on the roads” Governor Buni said.

“May Allah (SWT) forgive the deceased for his shortcomings, grant him Aljannatur Firdaus and to his family, the fortitude to bear the loss,” Governor Buni prayed.

There is wide outrage over the attack of an 11-year-old pupil by a senior at the El-Kanami College of Islamic Theology Maiduguri.

The JSS 1 student, Jubril Sadi Mato (Ramadan), was said to have been attacked by a senior student who slit his throat for refusing to run an errand for him in the hostel.

Some Civil Society Organisations, including the Nigeria Bar Association(NBA) has vowed to take up the matter and ensure the victim gets justice.

The Vice-Chairman Human Right Committee and Vice-Chairman (NBA) Borno, Barr. Yahaya Dunoma said his committee is expected to meet with the management of the school and see how the NBA intervene to bring justice to the victim.

The little Jubril, who is on admission at the Intensive Care Unit at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, has appealed to his parents not to make him return to the school because of fear that he may be killed by the senior student.

Ahmed Umar Goni, the SS-II student, who attacked Jubril on January 16, 2022, said he attacked the victim to get an excuse for expulsion from the school.

READ ALSO: The rocket attack on Maiduguri too close for comfort, says Zulum

Ahmed, who was paraded by Borno Police Command on Saturday, said he has told his parent several times to withdraw him from the school to no avail.

A family source informed that Jubril, after regaining consciousness, wrote on a piece of paper begging his mother not to allow him to return to the school for fear of being killed.

“Mummy, mummy, I’m scared. Don’t take me back to that school he will kill me,” he reportedly wrote.

A family source, who spoke in confidence, alleged the school authorities were trying to cover up the incident.

He expressed delight some civil society organisations have acted swiftly on the matter.

“We are happy that the Network for Civil Society Organisation Borno Chapters, Nigeria Bar Association(NBA), The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) And The Federation of International Female Lawyers(FIDA) have vowed to investigate the case to ensure that the perpetrator was brought to book.

“For us as a family, we want Justice for the poor child as we are also planning to take him to Egypt for proper medical attention,” he said.

In a swift reaction, Borno State Government has set up a five-man committee with the mandate “to investigate and arrive at the remote causes of the incident and suggest ways to curtail its re-occurrence in the future”.

The committee’s membership is drawn from the Police, DSS, NSCDC with the Director of Quality Assurance in the ministry of Education Hajiya Hadiza Nasir Wali as the secretary.

The committee is expected to complete the assignment and submit their report to Commissioner, Ministry of Education within one week.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is going tough with political parties and their candidates in next year’s elections on how they source and disburse their campaign funds.

The commission plans to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and commercial banks to carry out the task, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, said yesterday.

Yakubu spoke in Abuja during a policy roundtable conference on political campaign finance organised by The Electoral Forum (TEF).

At a separate forum yesterday, the INEC Chairman said 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians had completed the online and physical registration with students and other young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 dominating the ongoing voter registration.

Yakubu, who was represented at the policy roundtable conference by the National Commissioner and chairman (Committee on Party Monitoring), Prof. Kunle Ajayi, said the commission was determined to track and ascertain campaign expenditure by politicians before and during the elections.

The commercial banks will be required to report all suspicious transactions ahead of the elections.

Failure to report any such suspicious transactions, he said, would attract prosecution.

“As long as we have not notified anybody that the race to the 2023 general election has started, we are not unaware of what anybody is doing. We follow the law strictly,” Yakubu said.

He added: “We have not officially declared notice for the 2023 general elections. But when we so declare, we will put our monitoring committees to motion, like the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS, EFCC, the ICPC (commercial) banks and other law enforcement agencies. We have that plan already.

“Every candidate must be made to declare his bank asset; that is where they draw out their money. So we will make them to present their statements of account right from the onset.

“We will make it mandatory for them to turn in their bank statement so that if they say they are doing billboard and the account remains the same, then there is a problem.”

The commission also plans to check vote buying, according to Yakubu, who said: “We are going to establish finance monitoring teams and they will be among the electorate but they (politicians and political parties) won’t know.

“We are going to do it in a way that the influence of money will be reduced, because we want to make the electoral field a level playing ground for both rich and poor candidates and the electorate.

“Everybody will go on an equal economic level so that you won’t influence the voting pattern.”

His immediate predecessor, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who contributed from abroad, described lack of accountability and transparency in political campaign financing as key factors responsible for some challenges facing Nigeria’s electoral system.

His words: “If we insist on accountability, then you can begin to somehow sanitise the way political parties raise funds. I think what has happened is that we paid too much attention to the issue of electronic transmission of results, and somehow they quickly passed the Sections about raising the threshold. The civil societies did not pay much attention in their advocacy against this particular issue.

“Nevertheless, I wouldn’t advise or recommend that we delay the passage of the Bill on account of this particular issue. What we should be exploring are ways and means of ensuring that there is accountability about how these funds are raised and the spending ceiling is met as well as how the expenditure is done.”

Also speaking, the National Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yabagi Sani, represented by its National Treasurer, Mr.Obidike Okolo, called for a strict enforcement of the regulations on election funding with a view to preventing the monetisation of the electoral process and improving the level of trust between the electorate and candidates.

He said the need to step up enforcement of the regulation on election funding was borne out of the imperatives of sanity and integrity in elections.

He said while the controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill (2020), if assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, would raise the ceiling of what a presidential candidate can spend on elections from N1 billion to N5 billion, representing a 400 per cent increment amongst others, there was need for its enforcement to ensure compliance with the provisions of the law on political campaign finance.

He said: “Political actors and commentators have been complaining that the new ceilings imply the monetization of the election process beyond the low-income groups in spite of their other qualifications. In this context, it is feared that women, youths and people living with disabilities will be the most excluded from the political process and governance.

“Further, there is the observation that the big political parties would hardly want to give their tickets to their members who are deemed not to have the capacity to generate either on their own, or, from wealthy donors to enable them cope with the big electioneering campaign funds.

“The more serious reservations about the potency of regulatory laws on elections is that such laws are hardly observed because of the poor or near-absence of enforcement mechanisms.

“An example of the brazen non-compliance with the law on election funding is the breach, especially by the ruling political party or ruling political parties, of the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matter Act, 2014 which prohibits corporate organisations and public institutions from donating to political parties or candidates for the purpose canvassing for votes.

“It is an open secret that private sector corporations and public institutions and agencies mostly surreptitiously make huge donations for reasons of getting patronage from the government or as a result of coercion by government officials.

Read Also: 2023: INEC determined to secure elections, says Yakubu

“In our view, at IPAC, much as we believe like most Nigerians that the new election funding limits by the new Act is on the high side, we are however more concerned about enforcement and compliance.

“To achieve this objective, we are recommending, among others, that the Independent National Electoral Commission should be supported by all stakeholders in the exercise of its regulatory role.”

The TEF is a multidisciplinary strategic think-tank aimed at strengthening electoral governance and accountability in Nigeria through the provision of data, critical and contextualized analysis and solutions to improve the credibility and integrity of the electoral process.

Youths, students top voter registration as applications hit 8m

Speaking also yesterday at INEC’s quarterly meeting with media executives in Abuja, Yakubu said 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians have so far applied for inclusion in the Permanent Voters Register ahead of next year’s elections.

Majority of the applicants are youths and students, according to him.

Besides, Yakubu said over 101 associations now want to be registered as political parties.

There are currently 18 political parties.

Seventy-four others were recently deregistered by the electoral umpire for falling below required performance.

The revelation is coming 392 days to the next general elections in the country.

One of the groups seeking registration as a political party, he said, applied with a sheet of paper without an address.

He said: “And I asked if we are to rely on this application, to which address are we going to send the reply?”

The INEC chairman said another individual applied to register six political parties. He however explained that while the guidelines for the registration of political parties are specified in the constitution, the commission has a procedure which it would follow to consider the applications.

On the February local council election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja he noted that on 12th February 2022, “a major end of tenure election will hold in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to elect 6 Area Council Chairmen/Chairwomen and 62 councillors.”

The FCT council election, he said, will be followed by two governorship elections in Ekiti State on 18th June 2022 and Osun State on 16th July 2022.

He reiterated that party primaries for the Ekiti State governorship election are scheduled for 4th – 29th January 2022. For the Osun State governorship election, he noted that primaries will hold from 16th February to 12th March 2022.

“In the case of Ekiti State, all the 18 political parties have indicated their intention to participate in the election and have already served the mandatory notices for their primaries to elect their candidates as required by law,” he said.

In addition to the end of tenure elections, he said six bye-elections are scheduled to hold on Saturday 26th February 2022 in Cross River, Imo, Ondo and Plateau states. He added however that three by-elections were still pending.

He said: “You may recall that the Commission suspended Ekiti East I State Constituency bye-election in March 2020 following its violent disruption by thugs. The election will now be combined with the state governorship election holding on 18th June 2022.

“The date for the Shinkafi State Constituency bye-election in Zamfara State will be announced after a thorough review of the security situation in the area, while the Commission awaits the declaration of vacancy by the Kaduna State House of Assembly in respect of Giwa West State Constituency.”

On the distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT, particularly the fact that 593 out of 2,822 (or 21%) of the total do not have voters, he noted that “this is because voters failed to take advantage of the expansion of access to transfer to these new Polling Units.

“The Commission looks forward to the support of media organisations to encourage voters who wish to transfer from their present polling units to new ones created as part of the Commission’s expansion of access polling units across the country.

“After all, your support was crucial to the success of the recent expansion of voter access to polling units for the first time in 25 years since the initial delimitation in 1996,” he said.

He insisted that the critical preparations for the 2023 General Election must be concluded this year.

He said: “For instance, the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter. As at Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration, completed the registration physically, applied for transfer to new voting locations, requested for replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and updated their voter information records.

“The Commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise, including analysis of the distribution of online and completed registration by age group, occupation, gender and disability.

“Since the exercise commenced in June last year, the Commission has so far published 36 weekly reports which show a consistent pattern of young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constituting the largest majority of registrants.

“In terms of occupation, students constitute the largest majority of registrants, which is consistent with the dominance of young Nigerians as voters.

“We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection.

“For those who have completed the registration, the Commission is right now undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 general election.

“We will share our findings with Nigerians very soon. The actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will also be announced very soon.”

For emphasis, he noted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections, which is the second major election after the Anambra governorship election held in November last year.

The 68 constituencies cover extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five states in the North Central and North West parts of the country.

“This is yet another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context.

“The same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming elections across the country.

“Similarly, for all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal,” he said.

The police in Kano State have arrested the abductors and killers of five-year old Hanifa Abubakar, a pupil of Noble Kids Academy in Kwanar Dakata, Nassarawa local government area of Kano State.

The principal suspect, Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko, 30, who turns out to be the victim’s teacher, had initially demanded N6 million ransom for her release.

But realising the minor recognised him, he poisoned her to death despite collecting N100,000, it was learnt.

Upon his arrest, Tanko, who confessed the crime, led a combined team of operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), the police medical team and a team of police Operation Puff Adder to the shallow grave where he and his accomplice, Hashim Isyaku, buried the minor.

The deceased body was exhumed and taken to the Mohammed Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital for examination before it was released to the family for burial according to Islamic rites, police said.

A statement by the police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said: “On December 4, 2021 at about 2030hrs, we received a complaint from a resident of Dakata Quarters, Nassarawa local government area of Kano State, that one Hanifa Abubakar, aged 5 years, was kidnapped and a ransom of N6 million was demanded.

“On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, met with heads of security agencies in the state, strategised for effective service delivery and raised a team of Operation Puff Adder led by SP Shehu Dahiru to rescue the abductee and arrest the culprits.

“Sustained efforts led to the arrest of one Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko, aged 30 years, of Tudun Murtala Quarters, Nassarwa, Kano State and one Hashim Isyaku, aged 37 years, of the same address.

“The suspects will be charged to court upon completion of investigation.”

Father of the slain girl, Abubakar Abdussalam, who was in the crowd of onlookers at the Police Command where the suspects were paraded, demanded the full length of justice.

He appealed for “immediate prosecution” of the principal suspect (Tanko), screaming in tears.

“Kill this bastard now. Please do not spare him, please I beg you in the name of Allah,” he told police officers.

Read Also: #JusticeForHanifa: Outrage over kidnap, murder of five-year-old Kano pupil

More facts emerged on how Hanifa was murdered with “rat poison bought for N100.”

The suspected killer, a father of three who is said to be the proprietor of the school, said he abducted the girl because he was indebted to the owner of the building housing the school.

He told newsmen: “I demanded a ransom of N6 million but was paid N100,000 which I used in paying the salaries of my teachers.”

Following the development, Kano State government on Friday ordered the closure of the Noble Kids Academy, where the body of the slain child was buried.

Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Kiru, announced closure of the school in a statement after detectives discovered the corpse of the victim.

He expressed sadness over the incident, stating that apart from the closure of the school, the state government would commence investigation of unregistered private schools and teachers to check such criminal activities.

He appealed to parents whose children attend the affected school to stop them, pending when investigation would be completed.

Students and other young Nigerians between 18 and 34 have dominated the ongoing Voter Registration, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed.

INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu said 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians have completed the online and physical registration.

According to the INEC Chairman, who gave the hint during the first quarterly meeting with media Organisations in Abuja, informed: “The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter. As at Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration; completed the registration physically; applied for transfer to new voting locations; requested for replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs); and updated their voter information records.

“Since the exercise commenced in June last year, the Commission has so far published 36 weekly reports which show a consistent pattern of young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constituting the largest majority of registrants. In terms of occupation, students constitute the largest majority of registrants which is consistent with the dominance of young Nigerians as voters”.

He stressed further that “some of the critical preparations for the 2023 General Election must be concluded this year.

“​Related to the issue of voter registration is the issuance of PVCs. We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection.”

“At the same time, we want you to continue to sensitise them that those who had registered at any time previously need not register again.

“For those who have completed the registration, the Commission is right now undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election.

“We will share our findings with Nigerians very soon. The actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will also be announced very soon”.

Outrage has greeted the abduction and murder of a five-year-old girl, Hanifa Abubakar in Kano state.

Until her demise, Hanifa attended Noble Kids Academy located in Kwanar Dakata in Nassarawa local government area of Kano.

Kano State Government has ordered the immediate closure of the school.

In connection to her death, the Police in Kano has arrested two suspects, Abdulmalik Mohammed and Hashim Isyaku.

According to the police, the principal suspect confessed to poisoning the girl when he realised that she had recognised him.

The suspects then buried her remains in a shallow grave at the private school premises at Kwanar ‘Yan Gana, Tudun Murtala Quarters.

The abductors reportedly demanded a ransom of N6million but still killed her after receiving the money.

With over 15,000 tweets as monitored by The Nation, many Nigerians took to social media to trend the hashtag #JusticeForHanifa.

Many sympathised with the family and called for justice.

Some others demanded death penalty for the suspects as contained in Kano anti-kidnapping Law.

Read Also: Gunmen abduct Bayelsa commissioner

Reacting, Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, a former media aide to Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said: “The Kano anti-kidnapping law states that anyone that kidnaps someone & the victim dies in the process death penalty is the punishment for the kidnapper!

“I call for the death penalty for the barbarians that kidnapped & killed this little angel #JusticeForHanifa.”

Mohammed Jammal popularly known as ‘White Nigerian’ tweeted: “This is too Painful. #JusticeForHanifa”

Adam Sharada lamented: “After kidnapping Hanifa for many weeks, She has been murdered! This is indeed a heavy slap to the face of Nigeria, and security sector. Verily, Hanifa has lost in doom and gloom😭 The challenge question is: Who killed Hanifa? #JusticeforHanifa”

Jacob Sule said: “Very devastating news about the death of this young girl who was allegedly kidnapped and later killed by her teacher in Kano state. This is such terrible news and I join my voice to demand for justice. No child deserves to be killed. #JusticeForHanifa”

Senator Shehu Sani, who represented the Kaduna Central, said: “The school is the only place you can trust your Children to a people you don’t know; When teachers started becoming kidnappers, nobody’s child is safe. You can’t read the mind of a man from his smiles. He fed Hanifa with Rat poison,he deserves to be fed with it.”