Kano court sentences two men to death for seven killings

Kano State High Court sentenced Umar Auwalu and Yakubu Dayyabu to death by hanging on November 6, 2026, for the killings of Fatima Abubakar and her six children. The court also acquitted a third defendant, Isiyaku Yakubu, in the case. Justice Nasiru Saminu found Auwalu and Dayyabu guilty of culpable homicide in the January 17 killings at the family’s home in Dorayi Chiranchi, Kano. The court imposed death sentences for the seven deaths. The men were also sentenced to life imprisonment for additional offences, although reports differ on the precise legal basis for those terms. The judge said the prosecution had proved its case against the two men. The third defendant was discharged and acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence to establish his involvement in the killings or a conspiracy with the convicted men. Kano Attorney General Abdulkarim Maude, who led the prosecution, said the state would pursue implementation of the death sentences if the men did not appeal within the period allowed by law. The sentences therefore remain subject to the appeal process; no specific deadline was reported. The trial evidence, as described in court, concerned an attack on the...