The Kano State Government has concluded its case at an Upper Shari’a Court against Shafi’u Abubakar, a 38-year-old man accused of setting fire to a mosque.
Abubakar, a resident of Gezawa Local Government Area in Kano, faces charges of culpable homicide, attempted murder, causing grievous hurt, and mischief by fire.
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During the proceedings, the prosecution presented seven witnesses, with the final witness being ASP Abdullahi Sajo. The Prosecution Counsel and Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Kano State Ministry of Justice, Salisu Tahir, introduced Sajo as the seventh witness (Pw7) and also submitted the defendant’s confessional statement, in both English and Hausa, along with photos of the victims as exhibits.
ASP Abdullahi Sajo, a police officer with 24 years of service at the Kano State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), recounted the events leading up to the case. He testified, “On May 15, around 8 a.m., we received a signal from the Gezawa Police Division reporting that the defendant had set fire to a mosque in Gadan Larabar Abasawa Village while people were praying between 5:05 and 5:20 a.m.”
According to Sajo, the defendant voluntarily surrendered himself to the police shortly after the incident. “On the same date, around noon, officers from the Gezawa Division brought the defendant to the State CID,” he explained. Sajo added that he, along with two other officers, interrogated Abubakar in the presence of his brother, Aminu Abubakar.
“The defendant admitted that on May 14, around 6 p.m., he bought N7,000 worth of fuel at a filling station along Hadeja Road, Kano. He then transferred the fuel into a jerrycan and, on May 15, used it to set the mosque on fire before reporting himself to the police,” Sajo testified.
Sajo revealed that he witnessed 25 individuals in critical condition at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, out of which 23 eventually died from their injuries.
The prosecution argued that Abubakar’s actions violated Sections 140, 148, 167, and 370 of the Kano State Shari’a Penal Code Law, 2000, as the court concluded the case, paving the way for the next phase of the trial.
