Kano Court Sentences Two Men To Death For Killing Employer, Burns Third Defendant

Daud Olatunji

A Kano State High Court has sentenced two young men, Adamu Aliyu, 22, and Mubarak Abdulsalam, 20, to death by hanging for conspiring to kill their employer, Dahiru Musa, 32.

The court also sentenced a third defendant, Sadiq Sunusi, 19, to seven years’ imprisonment for his role in concealing the crime by helping to burn the deceased’s corpse.

The judgment was delivered on Monday by Justice Fatima Adamu, who held that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Aliyu, of Gaida Yan Kusa Quarters, Kano, and Abdulsalam, of Mandawari Quarters, Kano, were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide, while Sunusi was convicted of abetment.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Adamu condemned the circumstances surrounding the killing, particularly the alleged use of rat poison, repeated stabbing and subsequent burning of the victim’s body in an attempt to destroy evidence.

The judge described the actions of the defendants as inhumane and wicked, stressing the gravity of the offences established against them.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Salisu Muhammad-Tahir, who is also the Kano State Solicitor-General, told the court that the incident occurred on September 29, 2024, at Gaida Yan Kusa Quarters in Kano.

According to him, the first and second defendants conspired to murder Musa, who was Aliyu’s employer, by allegedly poisoning him with rat poison before stabbing him repeatedly with knives.

Muhammad-Tahir further explained that the defendants subsequently made efforts to conceal the crime by burning the victim’s corpse.

He told the court that on September 30, 2024, at about 6pm, Sunusi escorted Abdulsalam to Gaida Quarters, where they purchased petrol before proceeding to an uncompleted building.

The prosecutor said Abdulsalam used the petrol to set the deceased’s corpse ablaze, while Sunusi, who allegedly knew that the body was human, failed to report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

To establish its case, the prosecution called five witnesses and tendered several exhibits, including knives, confessional statements and video evidence linking the defendants to the offences.

The prosecution maintained that the defendants’ actions violated Sections 97, 221 and 86 of the Penal Code.

However, all three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Their defence counsel, Mustafa Idris, presented them before the court to testify and subsequently appealed for leniency, urging the judge to temper justice with mercy.

But the court, having considered the evidence presented by both parties, found the defendants guilty and imposed the respective sentences.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Adamu also granted the convicts 90 days to appeal against the judgment if dissatisfied with the outcome.

The judgment brings to a close the trial arising from the September 2024 killing of Musa, whose death involved allegations of poisoning, stabbing and the burning of his remains in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime.

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