Two To Die By Hanging For Killing Kano Housewife, Six Children

A Kano State High Court has sentenced two men to death by hanging for the murder of a 35-year-old housewife, Fatima Abubakar, and her six children at Dorayi Chiranchi Quarters, Kano State. The convicts, Umar Auwalu, 23, popularly known as Breaker, and Yakubu Dayyabu, 21, popularly known as Wawo, were found guilty of culpable homicide arising from the January 17, 2026 attack. The judgment was delivered on Friday, November 6, 2026, by Justice Nasiru Saminu of High Court No. 11, sitting in Bompai.

Delivering judgment, Justice Saminu described the murder of the woman and her six children as one of the most horrifying crimes in the history of criminal justice in the state, noting that the victims were killed by relatives who ought to have protected them. He said Fatima had willingly opened the door for Auwalu, her nephew, when he arrived with his accomplice, unaware of their intention to attack her family. He expressed sympathy to the surviving family members, particularly Haruna Bashir, the husband of the deceased and father of the six children, lamenting that no judicial pronouncement could restore the deceased or adequately compensate the family over the loss.

The court imposed seven separate death sentences on each convict, one for each of the seven victims, for culpable homicide punishable by death under Section 221 of the Penal Code. The two convicts were also sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to commit culpable homicide and armed robbery. However, the third defendant, Isyaku Yakubu, 40, popularly known as Chebe, was discharged and acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence linking him to the killings.

The prosecution was led by the Kano State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkarim Kabir Maude, alongside Salisu Muhammad Tahir, while J. I. Musa and A. I. Baba represented the defendants. Maude described January 17, 2026, as a tragic day in the history of Kano State, and disclosed that although the acquitted defendant had been cleared in the present case, he was still facing two separate cases with judgments expected later. He said the state government was prepared to pursue the implementation of the death sentences if the convicts did not exercise their right of appeal within the period allowed by law.