A Kano State High Court has sentenced two men to death by hanging for the murder of a lecturer at Yusuf Maitama Sule University (formerly known as Northwest University), Kano, during a robbery that occurred in 2016.
Delivering judgement on Monday, Justice Fatima Adamu found the defendants, Aliyu Hussaini of Sheka Sabuwar Abuja Quarters and Amir Zakariyya of Unguwar Malam Quarters, all in Kumbotso local government area of the State, guilty on three counts of conspiracy, armed robbery, and culpable homicide.
“The action of the defendants shows total disregard for human life,” Justice Adamu said. “I hereby sentence the defendants to five years’ imprisonment each for conspiracy, 10 years’ imprisonment each for robbery without an option of fine, and death by hanging for culpable homicide. May God have mercy on them.”
According to the prosecution counsel, Lamido Abba-Sorondinki, the convicts committed the offence on June 11, 2016, when they conspired, armed themselves with knives and machetes, and attacked Buhari Imam, a lecturer at the State-owned University, at his residence in Sheka Sabuwar Abuja Quarters.
He told the court that the men robbed the lecturer of his mobile phone before stabbing him multiple times in the stomach, thigh, and back, resulting in his death.
The prosecution presented three witnesses, alongside medical reports and photographs of the deceased, to substantiate its case. Despite denying the charges, the court held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The offences, the court ruled, contravened Sections 97(1), 298(c), and 221(a) of the Penal Code Laws of Kano State.
