By Mustapha Babalola Toheeb.
Happy new month ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to another monthly edition of Law History Series which is aimed at promoting and unearthing the history, unknown facts and celebrating the heroes of our beloved legal profession. On this edition, we will be discussing about the events that led to the popular case of Nafiu Rabiu v The State. What led to Nafiu Rabiu to be arraigned before the court for the murder of his wife? What could have behind the scenes and what later happened to the husband alleged of killing his wife? These are what we will be discussing on this edition.
On Wednesday, May 9, 1979, Nafiu Isyaku Rabiu and his beautiful wife Fatima hosted his three friends to a dinner in the verdant garden of his Dawaki Road, Kano residence. After the sumptuous feast, toasts and clinking glasses, the friends left the “happy” couple “quite alright” at around 11pm. The following day, Kano awoke to the most celebrated murder case in history. The story was that Nafiu Rabiu, the prima donna of Kano socialites and oldest son of a rich Kano cleric, Sheikh Isyaku Rabiu, had murdered his wife, Fatima. Nafiu Rabiu was in those days notorious for alleged methomania, reckless driving, vanity and hedonistic lifestyle. In the public court, Nafiu Rabiu was pronounced guilty of killing his wife by pushing her down stairs.
According to some accounts, the then governor of Kano State, Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi, took a vow to send Nafiu Rabiu to the gallows, just as Fatima’s millionaire dad, Tijjani Aliyu Dagazau, undertook to ensure justice for her at all costs.
But to the chagrin of the state, the family of the deceased and the people of Kano who trooped to “Kotun Nafiu” on Court Road, Kano to witness the proceedings, the Supreme Court on November 21, 1980 (exactly 37 years ago yesterday) dismissed the appeal of Kano State government.
In their testimonies, Nafiu Rabiu’s cook and driver gave the account of what transpired in the house on May 10, 1979. The cook said he came to the house in the morning and strangely found the door locked, and when he asked his colleague (the driver), who normally kept the keys to the main building, for the key, he told him was not given the key. After waiting for a couple of hours, Nafiu Rabiu opened the window and threw the keys to the driver. At 10am, Nafiu Rabiu re-appeared and asked his cook to open the kitchen door as he had misplaced the keys to the front door. Nafiu later came out holding “soiled blankets and clothes” and asked his driver to put them into the boot of his Peugeot 504. Nafiu then asked the driver to pick his mother in-law in his other car, a Mercedes-Benz saloon, from Kano airport. According to Nafiu’s account, the mother-in-law was due to arrive from Niamey that day.
Nafiu later drove out in his Peugeot 504 and instructed his cook to serve his wife (who according to Nafiu Rabiu’s account was asleep when he left the house) when she woke up. For the first time, Nafiu left the keys to the door leading from the kitchen to the lounge and other parts of the main house with the cook.
Later in the noon, their children (who apparently slept the previous night elsewhere) were driven to the house. With the keys left, the cook opened the inner lounge leading the room to the children. They found their mother dead. Those who saw Fatima’s body suspected foul play after noticing injuries and signs of strangulation. The state took up the matter, hiring top pathologists to conduct autopsy on her body. The team of the four pathologists who conducted the post-mortem examination was led by Dr. Bansi Badan Tribedi, a senior Consultant Pathologist working as pathologist since 1948 in Calcutta, United Kingdom and Ghana for 14years, and in Nigeria for seven years. But despite state resources, public interest, the influence of Fatima’s father, the prosecution failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Fatima had died as a result of strangulation that led to asphyxia.
That will be all for this edition, thanks for your rapt attention.
Source: Daily Nigeria
Mustapha Babalola Toheeb is an Undergraduate Intern at OAKE Legal and a penultimate year law student of Bayero University, Kano.