By Emmanuel Oloniruha
A Non-governmental Organization, the Kano LEADS DaRUWANA, has called on government and relevant authorities to be firm in ensuring justice and accelerated judicial trial of the arrested kidnappers and killers of a five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar, in Kano State.
The NGO made the call in Abuja on Monday at a press conference addressed by its President, Hajiya Aisha Dankani, mni.
The press statement was co-signed Dankani, the Chairman Board of Trustees, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, and the Chairman, Abuja Chapter, Sani Sufi.
Hanifa was abducted by her school teacher, Abdulmalik Tanko, held hostage for over a month, then poisoned and killed her after a N6 million ransom claim was collected by the kidnappers on Dec. 4, 2021.
Dankani, who condemned the heinous crime, said that in such a straight forward case where the major culprit had already confessed to his crime and all available evidences adduced, government must see fast track the judicial process.
“Such celebrated cases have over the years been left unattended to, leading to problems and often contrives miscarriage of justice.
“Such failings are the excuses for some misguided elements to take the law into their hands, leading to a break down of law and order. We can’t afford to continue this way,” she said.
Dankani, who commended Gov. Abdullahi Gandaje of Kano State for weighing in quickly, urged him to quickly ensure that whatever the court decides gets executed with firmness.
He urged Ganduje to lead the way for other governors to ensure that all genuinely-certified cases of those on death row are confirmed for final conclusion, to serve as a deterrent to those who would commit capital crimes believing they could get away with them.
Dankani saluted the committee set up by the Kano State government to tackle the issues that have to do with the murdered Hanifa and her teacher, Tanko.
She said that it is gratifying that the committee is to review and revalidate registration of all private schools as ordered by Gov. Gandaje in the aftermath of Hanifa’s horrific murder.
Dankani said that the Kano leadership considered that the action would provide a unique opportunity for collation of reliable data for proper appreciation and management of education in the state.
She urged all public and community schools to be part of the proper and enhanced data collation, adding that the opportunity needs to be expanded to cover other sectors.
Dankani said that would be the beginning of a return to the days of glory of Kano, when it was the pacesetter that others copied from.
She urged all residents and communities in Kano to collectively retrieve ownership of every space in the state, including the most remote areas.
“At Kano LEADS, we are committed to pulling in all who desire to see Kano return to its State of Glory to join us in the innovative and inclusive ways we are working on to make us a community of our brother’s keepers.”
She urged every member of Kano communities to be part of the effort to revamp education in the state, saying parents cannot afford to leave education as the least of their concerns.
“We all must also be vigilant, and that has to do with involvement. We have to be conscious of what goes on in our neighborhoods.”
Dankani said while Kano LEADS Social and Education Clusters had been mandated to follow the case of Hanifa to logical conclusion, NGO called on the State Government to undertake a deep and critical study of the Child Rights Act.
This, according to her, is to see what it could do to help the plight of out of school children and those who are inadequately catered for by the State and those literally abandoned by their parents.
“We urge the State House of Assembly to subject it to rigorous and broad-based stakeholder scrutiny and public debates.
“This is with a view to facilitating its domestication and establishment of an appropriate implementation agency by the State Government, if this has not yet been done.
She also called on all stakeholders to, as a matter of urgency, do a critical review of education and how to avail its opportunities to all, saying collective action is what is needed to revamp the entire sector to meet contemporary challenges.
“In particular, parents must be sensitized on the critical value of modern functional education. They need to invest in it, the same value they grant Islamiyya and Qur’anic education,” she said.
She also suggested to the State Government the establishment of ad hoc committee to review and revalidate private schools to redefine criteria for registration of schools to stop recurrence of the Hanifa tragedy and similar ones reported over the years.
She added that the NGO also suggested “more serious attention by Government to how our children are managed and tutored in our schools, including public, community and Islamiyya and Qur’anic schools
She suggested that “more involvement by the community in a comprehensive and universal neighborhood management committee involving all households around each school is a format that may help.
“A Management and Board of Governors or Trustees for schools is an option for all schools, so as to hold more than mere tutors and proprietors responsible.
“Parents must of necessity be active in the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of each school that their wards are enrolled as students. Parents have to be paying and physically active members of the PTA.
“That should be integrated as a key precondition for continued enrolment. If it takes a State Law to be passed for this, so be it.
“For us in Kano LEADS, mourning Hanifa means getting involved in all that happens around us,” Dankani said. (NAN)
