NIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING IN KANO

June 22, 2016: Justice Kabiru Auta of a Kano High Court sentenced the killer of a Kano business tycoon, philanthropist, and Yoruba leader, Ganiyu Akanbi Bello, to death by hanging.
The accused, Abubakar Abdulrahaman, 28, was found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death. He was discharged and acquitted in another charge of armed robbery.
Mr. Abdulrahaman was accused of murdering Mr. Bello on the night of June 5, 2014 in his residence at the Nassarawa Government Reserved Area (GRA) opposite Kano Race Course when he stabbed the victim in the heart with a kitchen knife.
Making his last plea for the accused, his counsel from the Legal Aid Council, Mr. Adama, urged the court to temper justice with mercy because of his aged mother, wife and children.
The trial judge in his final verdict said that the accused deserved no mercy having committed a capital offense by murdering a breadwinner like Mr. Bello. Justice Auta remarked that the accused showed no remorse throughout the trial. He returned a verdict of hanging by the neck for the accused until pronounced dead.
Justice Auta added that the accused has the right to appeal the court’s decision within 30 days. (Sources: Sahara Reporters, 22/06/2016)