A Kano State High Court has sentenced two men, Aliyu Hussaini and Amir Zakariyya, to death by hanging for the killing of a university lecturer during an armed robbery in 2016.
Justice Fatima Adamu delivered the judgment on Monday 20th, October 2025, convicting the duo on three counts: conspiracy, armed robbery, and culpable homicide. The victim was Buhari Imam, a lecturer with Northwest University, Kano, who was attacked at his residence in the Sheka Sabuwar Abuja Quarters on June 11th, 2016.
The prosecution detailed how the convicts, armed with knives and machetes, attacked Imam, stabbed him multiple times in the stomach, thigh, and back—injuries that led to his death—and robbed him of his mobile phone.
In her ruling, Justice Adamu emphasized the severity of the crime, stating that the defendants’ actions showed a “total disregard for human life.”
She handed down a cumulative sentence: death by hanging for the charge of culpable homicide; 10 years’ imprisonment each for the armed robbery count; and five years’ imprisonment each for conspiracy.
Despite a plea for leniency from the defense counsel, the court maintained that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, concluding the nine-year trial over the brutal killing.
