Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril of a Magistrate Court 12, sitting in Gidan Murtala in Kano state, has ordered the case of Abdulmalik Tanko and his accomplices to be transferred to the State High Court number 6 before Justice Usman Na’abba on February 9, 2022.
Tanko and his associates were charged with killing Hanifa Abubakar, a five-year-old student at Tanko’s school.
Counsel to the state government led by Aisha Mahmoud applied to the court to adjourn the case to a higher court as the magistrate has no jurisdiction over the case.
Mahmoud said “The offences alleged to have been committed by the defendants are not triable by this court, so we are applying for a count charges before the High Court.”
The court has therefore ordered the suspects to be remanded in prison custody before re-arraignment in the next court.
Tanko, along with Hashimu Isiyaku and Fatima Musa, are standing trial on charges bordering on culpable homicide, kidnapping, concealing, and confinement of a kidnapped person.
The suspects were accused of the kidnap and subsequent murder of Hanifa with rat poison powder and, thereafter, burying her in a shallow grave after collecting the sum of ₦100,000 being part payment of the ₦6 million ransom they had demanded from the parents of the victim.
