Kano court sentences two men to death by hanging for murdering a mother and her six children
A Kano State High Court sitting at Bompai on Friday 6 November 2026 sentenced Umar Auwalu, known as Breaker, and Yakubu Dayyabu, known as Wawo, to death by hanging — seven death sentences each — for the culpable homicide of Fatima Abubakar and her six children at their home in Dorayi Chiranci on 17 January 2026, and to life imprisonment with hard labour for armed robbery. A third defendant, Isiyaku Abdul'azeez, was discharged and acquitted. Auwalu had told the court in his defence that a herbalist instructed him and that he alone was responsible; the court convicted on the prosecution's case, which it heard through eight witnesses and thirty exhibits.
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Key points
- Kano State High Court No. 11 (Bompai), Friday 6 November 2026: Umar Auwalu and Yakubu Dayyabu each received seven death sentences by hanging for the seven culpable homicides, plus life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy and armed robbery.
- The victims: Fatima Abubakar, 35, and her six children, killed at home in Dorayi Chiranci on 17 January 2026; her husband survived.
- Third defendant Isiyaku Abdul'azeez was discharged and acquitted — the prosecution failed to establish his involvement; the Attorney General says he faces two other cases.
- Auwalu's defence — that a herbalist instructed him and he acted alone — was his testimony, not a finding; the court convicted on eight witnesses and thirty exhibits.
What happened
The killings of Fatima Abubakar and her six children at their Dorayi Chiranci home on 17 January 2026 shocked Kano State. Police arrested Auwalu — a nephew of the deceased — alongside two others; the three were first arraigned before a magistrates' court on 5 February 2026 and, after review by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, re-arraigned before the High Court in April on nine counts including conspiracy, culpable homicide and armed robbery.
On Friday, Justice Nasiru Saminu delivered the judgment: death by hanging for Auwalu and Dayyabu on each of the seven homicide counts, life imprisonment for the conspiracy and robbery counts, and an acquittal for the third man. The Attorney General, who led the prosecution, said the government was prepared to carry out the sentence if the convicts did not appeal within the time the law allows.
Both sides, in their own words
Both sides heard. Neither believed for free. Publishing a side's version is not endorsing it — the claim checks below are where verdicts live.
Side A · The prosecution's case
- The state, led by Attorney General Abdulkarim Kabir Maude, prosecuted the killings of all seven family members and the armed robbery through eight witnesses and thirty exhibits; the court held the case proved beyond reasonable doubt against Auwalu and Dayyabu.
- The Attorney General said the prosecution was satisfied with the judgment, and that the government was prepared to ensure execution of the death sentence if the convicts failed to appeal within the period allowed by law.
Side B · The defence
- Auwalu testified in his own defence that a herbalist instructed him to carry out the killings, absolved his co-defendants, and said he had named them only after torture in police custody (his testimony as reported from the trial). The court convicted him and Dayyabu anyway.
- No defence statement after Friday's judgment was reported in the coverage read; the third defendant, Isiyaku Abdul'azeez, was discharged and acquitted after the court found the prosecution had failed to establish his involvement.
Independently verified
Justice Nasiru Saminu of Kano State High Court No. 11, sitting at Bompai, on Friday 6 November 2026 sentenced Umar Auwalu (‘Breaker’) and Yakubu Dayyabu (‘Wawo’) to death by hanging — seven death sentences each, one for each victim, for culpable homicide under Section 221 of the Penal Code — and to life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy and armed robbery, after finding them guilty on the nine-count charge. The victims were Fatima Abubakar, 35, and her six children — Maimuna, 17; Aisha, 16; Bashir, 13; Abubakar, 10; Faruk, 7; and Abdussalam, one and a half — killed at their residence in Dorayi Chiranci, Kano, on 17 January 2026. Her husband, Haruna Bashir, survived. The third defendant, Isiyaku Abdul'azeez (also given as Isyaku Yakubu, ‘Chebe’), was discharged and acquitted: the court found the prosecution had failed to establish his involvement in the murder and conspiracy charges. Attorney General Maude said afterwards that Abdul'azeez had been cleared in this case but was facing two other cases on which judgments were expected later. The prosecution was led by Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Abdulkarim Kabir Maude with Barrister Salisu Muhammad Tahir; the defence was represented by Barristers J.I. Musa and A.I. Baba. Maude said the court reached its decision after considering eight prosecution witnesses, thirty exhibits and the defence evidence; he described 17 January 2026 as a tragic day in the state's history and commended the police investigation. In his defence testimony during the trial, Auwalu told the court that a herbalist gave him incense and instructed him to commit the killings, that he alone was responsible, and that he had named his co-defendants only after being tortured in police custody. He had earlier admitted partial guilt; Dayyabu and Abdul'azeez pleaded not guilty.Not yet verified
Nothing outstanding.Claim by claim
Why this label: The judgment, the bench, the seven-per-man death sentences and the life terms agree across three independent Nigerian reports of the same court sitting. Justice Saminu is reported (in paraphrase) to have said that if a punishment more severe than death existed, the court would have imposed it.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The date, place and the husband's survival are in Daily Trust's full report; the children's names and ages agree between the Linda Ikeji report and The Daily Crucible's list.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The acquittal is the second outcome of the judgment and is carried in the summary as well as here — the outcome-word rule applies to acquittals too. Reports differ on the spelling of his name (Isiyaku Abdul'azeez / Isyaku Yakubu); the Daily Trust form is used, with the variant noted. The two-other-cases point is the Attorney General's statement as reported by Daily Trust.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
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Why this label: The counsel names and the Attorney General's post-judgment remarks are from Daily Trust's court report, which carried them in paraphrase; they are reported remarks, not quoted judgment text.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Verified as what Auwalu said in his own defence — the fact that he testified to this is a matter of the trial record as reported. The herbalist instruction and the torture claim are his assertions, not findings: the court convicted on the prosecution's case, and no finding on either assertion is reported.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The sentences (seven death sentences each, plus life terms), the acquittal, the bench and the date of judgment.
- The victims' identities and the 17 January 2026 date of the killings.
- Auwalu's defence testimony (the herbalist claim and the torture claim) as his assertions, rejected in effect by the convictions.
What we don't know yet
- Whether Auwalu or Dayyabu will appeal, and on what grounds — no appeal had been reported when this story was published.
- Any defence reaction to the judgment — none was in the reporting read.
- The two other cases the Attorney General said the acquitted Abdul'azeez still faces, and their hearing dates.
Why it matters
The Dorayi killings — a mother and six children murdered in their own home — were among the most shocking crimes in Kano's recent history, and this judgment closes the trial: two death sentences, and an acquittal that shows the same court testing the evidence man by man. What happens next — an appeal, and the separate cases against the acquitted man — will decide how final this ending is.
Background
Show the background timeline (4)
Fatima Abubakar and her six children are killed at their home in Dorayi Chiranci, Kano.
Three suspects are arraigned before Magistrates' Court No. 2, Nomansland, on an eight-count charge.
After the DPP's review, the case moves to the High Court; the defendants are re-arraigned on nine counts.
Justice Saminu sentences Auwalu and Dayyabu to death by hanging and acquits Abdul'azeez.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
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Published in Checking state from crawler #1921 (Daily Trust, flagged by the 13:39 scan as the crawl's top CHECKED item for this pass). Basis: Daily Trust read in full; Impact Nigeria, The Daily Crucible and Linda Ikeji in agreement. JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary state the same outcome — two men sentenced to death by hanging for the seven murders — and the third man's acquittal is carried in the summary and its own claim, never dropped. (2) Labels: the judgment, victims and acquittal are Verified across independent court reports; Auwalu's herbalist and torture assertions are labelled as his testimony, not findings. (3) Every number (seven death sentences each, nine counts, eight witnesses, thirty exhibits, the victims' ages) traces to a named report. (4) Sides are positions: the prosecution's proved case and the Attorney General's satisfaction vs the defence testimony and the absence of any post-judgment defence statement, declared in the don't-know list. (5) Missing: appeals and the acquitted man's other cases — declared. (6) Photo is a labelled file photo of Kano city; no verified photo of the court sitting could be sourced, and no official-channel video was verified, so none is attached. (7) Translations: headline, summary and take labels in all 13 non-English languages at publish; this story carries no FR/AR full text.