Court sentences 2 to death for murder of ex-Katsina commissioner

The Katsina State High Court has sentenced two men to death for the brutal 2021 murder of the state’s former Commissioner for Science and Technology, Rabe Nasir.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday at High Court 9 in Katsina, Justice Ibrahim Mashi found Shamsu Lawal, a former security guard, and Tasi’u Rabi’u, the late commissioner’s cook, guilty of conspiring to poison their employer after failed robbery attempts.

According to the prosecution, the duo plotted to eliminate Nasir when their efforts to steal from him proved unsuccessful.

A police and hospital-conducted autopsy confirmed the presence of poison in the former commissioner’s body.

The court also handed a five-year jail term to another former guard, Sani Sa’adu, for withholding information regarding the crime.

However, a female suspect, Gift Bako, was discharged and acquitted due to insufficient evidence linking her to the incident.

The convicts’ lawyer, Ahmad Murtala Kankia, pleaded for leniency, citing the convicts’ family responsibilities and dependents.

Late Rabe Nasir served under the administration of former Governor Aminu Masari and had earlier represented Mani and Bindawa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in 2003.