Aisha Sani: How Kidnappers killed, dump 8-year-old girl in Kano well

A body of Aisha Sani, a kidnapped 8-year-old girl, was recovered inside a well in a garden at Tukuntawa Quarters, Kumbotso local government area of Kano State earlier this week.

An old woman, Hajiya Dije, who was neighbouring the garden told newsmen that the body of the 8-year-old girl was seen floating on the well when she sent her houseboy to fetch water.

According to her, as soon as the boy went out of the house, he quickly returned in a frightened mood, telling her that he saw a body of a human being floating on the water.

“I asked the boy to take me there and see it myself. On reaching there, I found that it was the body of a girl.

“I then decided to scream in order to draw the attention of my neighbours. My neighbourhood then gathered and called the attention of police authorities,” Dije said.

This newspaper observed that the incident had thrown the whole area into shock and panic.

An eyewitness, who pleaded for anonymity, said the area was known to be notorious and the garden was a hideout of criminals.

While believing that the girl was killed by unknown assailants, the eyewitness wondered why an 8-year-old would be killed in such a brutal manner.

It was gathered that shortly after the storm was beginning to subside, men of the state fire service came and evacuated the body of the deceased girl for depositing at the mortuary of the Murtala Muhammad Specialists Hospital.

However, on Tuesday, the parents of the deceased went to the mortuary to claim the body of their beloved daughter, identified as Aisha.

DAILY NIGERIAN correspondent who visited the parents at Santilma quarters in Brigade, Nassarawa local government area of the state, observed that the whole street was taken over by shock, grief and sorrow.

Narrating his daughter ordeal in the hands of her abductors, an apparently devastated father of the deceased, Sani Umar, stated that late Aisha was abducted while returning home from Islamic school alongside her younger sister in the evening at Tudun Wada, about a week ago.

According to him, as they were walking, a woman, who covered her face with a veil called her name and asked her to follow her to her house.

“Aisha’s sister cautioned her not to follow the woman but Aisha, because she is a bit psychologically impaired, ignored her sister’s caution and followed the woman. Swiftly, the sister rushed home and told her mother what had happened.

“Her mother just called and informed me about what happened. We kept searching for the girl but to no avail,” Mr Umar said.

Mr Umar further narrated that about a week after the missing of the girl, he received a text message with an anonymous number, telling him that his daughter was kidnapped and he should pay N10 million ransom.

He added that he told the suspected kidnappers that he had no such amount of money.

“Three days after, I received another message that I should pay N5 million ransom. I replied them via text message that I don’t have such money.

“I noticed that if they send the message to me, they switched the phone because whenever I sent a reply, I didn’t deliver until after 2 or 3 days.

“Finally, they demanded that I should give them any amount I have. I then told them that I had N80,000,” Mr Umar added.

The devastated father disclosed that the suspected kidnappers asked him to assign his wife to take the money to a female toilet of mortuary section of Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital.

According to him, his wife who is heavily pregnant could not go, but the kidnappers insisted that she took the money herself.

He said he had to escort his wife to the hospital where she dropped the money as directed by the kidnappers.

“After we dropped the money and went, they took the money and told us they would release my daughter. But it finally turned out that they killed her, ” he lamented.

When asked if he had reported the matter to the Police when his daughter was in the hand of the kidnappers, Mr Umar said he did not inform the Police for fear of putting the girl in danger.

He, however, revealed that the Police, after receiving the report of the death of his daughter, are now investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, the state Police Command, in a statement through its spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna, on Monday confirmed the kidnapping of late Aisha.

He said on receiving the report, detectives from the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Operation Puff-Adder swung into action and quickly arrested two suspects in connection with the kidnap.

He disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Iliyasu Ahmed further directed that the remaining fleeing suspects be tracked and arrested timely.

He added that the suspects would be charged to court after investigations.

(Credit: DAILY NIGERIAN)