The Teacher, The Ransom, and A 5-Year-Old Girl (Hanifa Abubakar)

0:06 Hello, Welcome to Mistress Nigel. Today we're talking about the case that's so gut wrenching, so disgusting, so horrible. There is no way to ease you into the story because I don't understand how a person would do this. So a man, a school proprietor, a school principal, a school headmaster or whatever the title takes a little girl home and meets his wife. Consider to live alone. He has a wife, he has a family. He takes the little girl to his family and tells his wife, this is my friend's daughter and my friend is going away, going out of town for a while.

0:44 There's no one else to look after this girl. So want us to look after the girl for a little time and wants they're back. They'll take the girl from our hands and the wife really can't say no or refuse because child is relatively about the same age as their children. So what's another child, Amber? She's not staying with us forever. It's just for a few days. So the little girl is there with them and I believe for the first two days or three days the girl is still going to school. And I really don't understand how that happened because something happens at school that Spooks this man that took the little girl.

1:22 So he decides it's getting dangerous to keep this girl with me because this girl is not the daughter of his friend. Friend. This girl is a little girl he abducted. He decides I need to get rid of this little girl. The whole town is looking for her. I have no explanation. I don't have any way to save myself if anyone should find this girl with me. He takes a little girl away from his home as they're leaving. He has no idea what to take her. He's contemplating do I take her out of town? Do I take her to a different state?

1:53 And at that time he decides I would just kill her. He gives her his leftover tea that he was drinking, drinking. The little girl drinks it because at this point she's been with him for about 5 days and they've been feeding her. They've been taking care of her. What's when I what's the a little cup of tea that she wouldn't drink? She drinks it. Suddenly she's in pain. She's in a whole world of pain for a tiny little girl. And this five year old girl dies a painful slow death and he buries her tiny little body.

2:25 This is the case of Hanifa Abubakar and Abdul Malik Tanko. Before we get into the details of the case, first disclaimer. This episode discusses real events involving the abduction and death of a minor. Listener discretion is strongly advised as the content may be distressing or emotionally triggering. The information presented in this episode is based on publicly available reports and verified news sources at the time of production. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, some details may evolve as additional information becomes available.

2:59 This podcast is intended for informational, educational, and storytelling purposes only. It does not seek to sensationalize, exploit, or cause harm to any individuals, families, or communities affected by the events discussed. All individuals measured are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. References to legal outcomes reflects publicly reported judgments. I do not provide any legal advice or professional opinions. Listening discretion is especially advised for sensitive audiences.

3:31 Let's get into it.

3:38 In a small town in Counter State, there is a man named Abdul Malik Tanko. He's a family man. He has a wife and three daughters. He is a school principal, a school proprietor, a school headmaster, whichever one works for you. But his title at the school was school proprietor, which is the same thing as principal or headmaster. His title was proprietor and he works at a private school, private elementary school. You could picture maybe some of the bougie private elementary schools around or maybe close to where you live or what you're used to.

4:16 Perhaps the one you attended and you're picturing this nice tall trees, plush grass field, playground and this ancient looking buildings were very beautiful looking buildings, very lovely bright colors and lots of classroom, lots of children, maybe a screen or two. Projectors and justice. State-of-the-art private school. Well, this wasn't the case in this story because it's a small town, a small city and most of the private schools are private because they're owned by private individuals. Most times they are a home that's been converted to a private school, or just a two-story building, or sometimes a bungalow that's been used to operate as a school.

5:04 The picture of this school is a moderate sized school, privately owned and not state-of-the-art or anything, but it was adequate enough to provide good education for your kids. He was running the place. He was the man in charge, the head principal, the the one running the show at the place. Which means all the children, the management, everyone walking in and out of that building where his responsibility, their safety, their protection, their education, their well-being, their happiness while in that building was his responsibility.

5:42 He was meant to separate that building, the operations of that building and keep it separate, separated from his personal private life. But he didn't. So in his private life, he was dropped for cash. He had financial issue. He has a family, he has three kids. He has to provide for them. And since he's the rich in charge of running the school, he has to pay the the the teachers run the school and make sure that they can still keep their doors open and provide educational services to the parents and the kids.

6:17 But that wasn't the case. He couldn't pay the teachers. They had another branch that was nearly opened and he couldn't pay them as well. And again, his family, his children, their well-being. So he decides, what do I do to make money to pay all the teachers? Keep the lights on in my home at the school and make sure everyone's happy. What do I do to save the day? Do I take on another job? Do I Start learning a skill and perhaps provide services? Do I take a loan? No. That's what lesser men do. A real man like me prey on others.

6:56 I'm going to kidnap a little kid. As a matter of fact, I'm going to kidnap one of those little kids here. I'm going to kidnap one of them. I'll make the parents pay a ransom and that ransom money will solve all of my problems. So he looks into the crowd, looks at the little children. Eenie meenie, Manny, Moe her. That's the one I'm taking. For what reason? No reason. Why was she the one he picked? Absolutely no reason. Totally random. Eenie meenie Manny Moe her. He decides I can't take her myself.

7:30 She's going to recognize me. I mean, I'm the boss here. She sees me literally every day, so I can't be the 1:00 to doctor. So he goes to a friend, fills a friend in. I'm going to receive a ransom. I'm going to give you this or this amount. You're going to make money. We're not going to hurt the child just for money. And the guys like, whoa, a chance to be a terrible fucking idiot. Count me in. He accepts. He joins the crew. He decides also there has to be a woman. You know, little girls, She's more likely to follow them.

8:02 If there is a woman among the people who's trying to abduct her, she's not just going to follow one man, but if it's a man and a woman, she's more likely to follow because of the woman. So he recruits a 27 year old woman by the name of Fatima, fills her in on it as well, promises her some money too. And she's like me, motherly instinct, no way. So she joins. They start to watch the little girl. The first day they try to abduct her, they were unsuccessful because she didn't know her and they were planning to abduct her before the end of school because her parents drop her off every day and take her home after school every day.

8:43 They really don't have access to her after that because she was an only child. She was loved by her parents. She was really adored and amazing little girl, so beautiful with those beady eyes and lovely, lovely, Oh my God, you need to check her photos. She was just adorable, beautiful little girl. So her parents protected her so much. They doted on her. They loved and protected her and they would do anything for her. So they knew after school there's absolutely no way on earth where can I get access to her.

9:18 So if we want to get her, it has to be before the end of school day. So they tried the first time, she couldn't recognize either of them, the male or the female, so she wouldn't go with them and they couldn't abduct her. That was sometime in December of 2021. Right after that, almost immediately, another day, they tried again, the same two people, and they still couldn't succeed in abducting her. They reported to the head Satan in charge and told him, we've tried 2 times already, we've been unable to abduct her.

9:52 What do we do? She's not going to come with us, and we can't forcefully take her. Too many eyewitnesses, too much, too many people. She has to either follow us willingly without causing a stain or alerting anyone's curiosity, or we're going to get caught. So he decides I'm Satan for a reason. I'll do it myself. He goes to the girl just before the end of school hours, eventually convinces her to go with him. He didn't have to convince her too much, because at the end of the day she is looking up right at another already figure.

10:24 Someone she sees every day, someone she's told is her elder she should respect and listen to, and someone who's meant to protect her. She's looking right at someone who is an adult in her little world. She doesn't really know much about danger. She has no worries. She barely has fears. Her biggest fear probably is what she's going to eat when she goes home after school, or which of her toys she's going to play with. There was absolutely no way she could have looked at him. And seen him for who he really was.

10:55 All she saw was, oh, this is my school proprietor, he's not going to hurt me. So she went with him. That's when he takes her home to his wife and tells her, this is my friend's daughter and she'll be with us for a few days. The parents are out of town and they'll take her once they're back. He keeps her with them. The parents come to get her after school. They can't find her and they start to panic. They start asking people around, have you seen her? Have you seen her? Have you seen her? So they start asking people around, have you seen her?

11:24 Her. Do you know what my daughter is? And they reported her missing. Now this is a little girl. Where does she have to go? Nowhere. She doesn't have anywhere to go. Even if she wanted to go to her friend's home, even if she wanted to go for a play date at her friend's house, her parents would have to drop her off. So the minute they couldn't see her, they couldn't find her. They knew someone took her. The whole town, the whole state started looking for her. The the police started watching all the the main roads, the express, the highways, the main streets to ensure that no one could leave town with her.

11:55 And they were searching all the vehicles. They were searching people close to where she schooled, where she lived. She was nowhere to be found because she was safely in his home temporarily. After five days, no words, nothing. After five days, he panics because he realized this other girl, she recognizes me. She knows me. No way, Einstein, she wasn't going to know you. I mean, you're taking a child from the same establishment you work at. You literally report or to work every single day in the same building where she schools and you were expecting her not to recognize you.

12:31 Of course she's going to know you. That was the whole reason why she went with you. When the other two people tried couldn't take her. You decided I'm going to go and get her because she's going to know me. But then after five days you're like oh shit, she recognizes me so now I have to kill her. She's going to tell someone. He claims that the little girls spoke to a sister or someone, I think maybe someone around them. When she spoke with the person, they asked her where she's been and she said she's been with uncle, just that she's been with uncle and he claims I'm that uncle.

13:10 She knows it's me. When she told that person she's with Uncle, she was referring to me. Heck, my parents named me Uncle at birth, so it's it's me. He contemplates. Do I take her out of town? But again, vehicles are being searched. No one's allowed to get in or out, lots of searches. And he doubts his ability to successfully skip town with her. So he decides I'm just going to kill her. So he takes her into his vehicle, starts driving, and he was having a cup of tea at the time. So he decides I'm going to give her my leftover tea just a little bit at the bottom of the cup.

13:48 I'm going to give her that. He already purchased poison and this poison is 100 naira poison. I don't even know how much that is in dollars or any of the currency. It's very minute. Oh God. He purchases the poison and this poison is what you typically bread on food or snack or anything that you know a rat might munch on. If you suspect to have a rat, a literal rodent in your house, If you suspect to have that in your house, you find maybe a little piece of fish, Gray fish or or snack or anything fishy smelling that you know the rat is going to get enticed by it.

14:27 You spread the poison on it. It could be liquid, it could be powder. I think you leave it at a corner. The rat's going to eat it and die. So he adds that to the left of her tea. He hands it to the little girl and she drinks it. Soon after, she starts being in a world of pain. Even if you eat a bad food and you get an upset stomach, you feel like you're dying. Imagine a little girl going through a pain that's worse than that. Imagine ingesting cheap poison and you're a little girl that perhaps up until then, the worst pain you've ever felt in your life is fall and scrape your knees or wake up too early and you're still clumsy and still sleepy and want to get more rest.

15:13 And then someone introduces you deep into this type of pain and you're alone. Your parents are looking for you and they're also in a world of pain and hurt and someone is sitting right there watching you while thinking of the words he's going to say to your parents when he asks for ransom money for a dead daughter. Honey for dies. He takes her to the same school, the same school she schools at the same 1 he operates, takes a shallow grave and he buries her there. He gets home. He delivers to the parents a ransom note.

15:51 He tells them that he has their daughter, doesn't tell his identity obviously, and requests for 2 million naira. Now the parents are panicking. What we want to know, how is the daughter? How is she OK? It's your life. He promises them. You're going to get your daughter back once you pay the money, even though he knows that's not the case. Parents start trying to gather the money and they're asking friends. They're doing everything they can to raise this money because it's not like they're wealthy people.

16:21 They're just honest people making a living every day, trying to live an honest, happy life with family, raised their beautiful daughter. So they do everything they can to raise the money. And he calls them every moment he can, every chance he gets. He harasses them to deliver the money as soon as possible where he's going to kill the girl. He harasses and harasses and harasses those poor parents who are already living in a world of pain. And eventually they tell him, we can't come with that money in this short amount of time.

16:53 Right now, we have 100,000 naira. Give us more time and we'll do everything we can to raise that. And he tells them, you can deliver the money you have to me right now, take it to this place and drop it off. The parents take the money there and they drop it off there. Now at this point, the teachers at the school, they've also realized the school's missing because it's all over the news and everywhere. The teachers visit him at his house just without even giving a heads up or anything. They show up and they check his home, you know, just pay him a random visit, don't even stay that long.

17:26 They leave and he concludes, oh, people are catching up to me, they are expecting me. How come they are just randomly visiting me? They're here to see if she's in my house and he's getting paranoid. The police, they are running their investigations and everything. Eventually all Rd. LED back to Abdul Malik Tanko and he got arrested and he gave up his accomplices. They were arrested as well. They were both taken to court in January of 2022. They were arraigned on multiple counts including kidnapping and culpable homicide, despite briefly denying charges during trial.

18:04 How do you deny that? But they were bold enough to attempt to deny it. The court still found them guilty. Abdul Malik was sentenced to death by hanging on July 28th, 2022 by Justice Usman Naba of Khan State High Court. Soon after after that, he filed an appeal saying that his punishment was too much for the crime, death by hanging was too much and whatever reasons he had to give. But in January of 2026 this year, the Court of Appeal in Kanu affirmed the sentence and ruled that the evidence against him was overwhelming and his sentence was affirmed.

18:43 He was still put on death row. The other two accomplices also received prison sentences. Now, in this case called a lot of uproar and people were questioning how something like this could happen during the court trials and everything. You know, sometimes criminals that would get criminal interviews. And this guy was interviewed and he's very articulate, he's very outspoken, very smart sounding. And honestly, he could have done something better with his life if he tried because he sounded very intelligent.

19:20 And this is not to praise him or anything, but just to show how much of a terrible person he was. That was what he chose to do with the smartness God gave him, the intelligence God gave him. He was interviewed and he was asked why he did what he did. That was when he declared his motive that he was in financial crisis were his words. I was going through financial crisis. And so he decided to do this to receive ransom money, you know, as easy money kind of scheme to pay off his debts. But at the end of the day, this was a death that could have been avoided.

19:59 Makes people question who we can really trust. This case has forced so many Nigerians to ask questions like how closely are private institutions monitored? Who verifies those in position of authority? If schools can be compromised, what does safety mean? Hani Febu Pakkar was not just a victim, she was a daughter of students, a child with future that ended before it began. Her story resonates because the belief that children are safe will replace them should be the truth. Now the real question there remains says if trust can be weaponized, if authority can be abused, if safety can be an illusion, what does protection actually look like?

20:44 Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. I am happy to have you and thank you so much for listening. I would like to know what your thoughts are, your opinions and what you think of this case. If you have any further information about it that I'm not aware of, please do let me know in the comment below and I will see you in the next one. Please stay safe, live and let live and be your brother's keeper. Bye.