Khadija, a woman residing at the Tukur area in Zaria, Kaduna state, has been reported to have killed her daughter Fadila after striking her with a pestle over allegations of stealing N100.
The mother was said to have sent her daughter to an early grave for pocketing the naira note which she had received during the Sallah festival without her consent.
It was gathered that the tragic event reportedly took place in the evening in Zaria, shortly before the Maghrib prayer.
Khadija admitted to beating her daughter but insisted that she never intended to cause her death.
“Yes, I beat her, but I didn’t mean to kill her. It was only the children at home at the time,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the father of the deceased, Mustapha Musa, who spoke to reporters after the incident, disclosed that he was not present at the time.
“I came back to meet the situation. I don’t know how it happened,” he said.
Following the incident, Fadila’s father transported her remains to their family village in Kano State for burial. “I’ve left everything to God,” he added.
A member of the local vigilante group confirmed that both Khadija and her husband were initially invited for questioning, but the case was handed over to the police upon their arrival.
The incident generated widespread anger in the community, with several locals boycotting the 11-year-old girl’s funeral as a form of protest against what they described as a serious injustice.
A resident of the area remarked, “This is not the first time she has beaten the girl. Whenever there’s a problem with her hawking, she beats her like she’s not even her child.”
Another neighbour added, “We refused to pray over her because justice was denied. Everyone acted like nothing seriously happened.”
As of the time of filing this report, the spokesperson for the Kaduna State Police Command, DSP Mansur Hassan, has not issued any official statement regarding the incident.
