(Police. Photo by Premuim Times)
Police are investigating the d£ath of Maimuna Salisu, a 13-year-old junior secondary school boarding student of St. Louis Secondary School, Kano.
This followed a petition dated 17 June, submitted to the police by Nakudu Law Partners, solicitors to the deceased’s mother, Nusaiba Dan-Sheriff, on behalf of the family.
The family is alleging foul play and pointing to conflicting accounts of how the teenager d!ed.
According to the petition, school authorities contacted Maimuna’s parents on 13 June at around 7:20 p.m., informing them that she had fallen ill and had been taken to the International Clinic in Kano.
The deceased’s elder sister arrived at the hospital at about 8:19 p.m., only to be told by the attending doctor that Maimuna had already d!ed.
Her remains were buried on 14 June, in keeping with Islamic rites.
However, the family has raised serious concerns over what they describe as conflicting accounts of her final moments.
While school authorities initially claimed Maimuna suffered a fatal asthma att@ck after arriving late to the school mosque, separate testimonies gathered by the family allege a different version of events.
The petition claims the late Maimuna was subjected to corporal punishment by senior students specifically flogging and forced, prolonged kneeling for refusing to sweep, an ordeal the family alleges worsened her underlying medical condition.
Special panel set up
In response to the petition, the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Bakori, directed that the case be handled with strict transparency, diligence and adherence to human rights standards.
To ensure an impartial investigation, the Command has set up a Special Investigation Panel (SIP), led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Shehu Idris.
Officials from the Kano State Ministry of Justice have also been brought onto the panel to provide legal oversight.
Teachers and senior students invited for questioning
The investigative panel has invited several individuals for questioning, including one male and two female staff members from the school.
Three other female students, all seniors to the deceased, are also being questioned.
The command’s spokesperson, Abdullahi Kiyawa, assured the public that the panel’s findings and recommendations would be made public once the investigation concludes.
He said the Kano State Police Command, working alongside the Ministry of Justice, was assuring the deceased’s family, the school community and the public that the investigation would be thorough, impartial and transparent, adding that anyone found culpable would face the full weight of the law, while those cleared of wrongdoing would be exonerated accordingly.
The command urged members of the public, particularly the St. Louis School community, to come forward with any credible information that could assist the investigation, promising that confidentiality would be strictly maintained.
