KATSINA, Nigeria — A Katsina State High Court on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, sentenced two domestic staff to death for the 2021 murder of Rabe Nasir, a former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Katsina State.
Presiding judge Justice Ibrahim Mashi of High Court 9 found Shamsu Lawal, a former security guard, and Tasi’u Rabi’u, a cook, guilty of conspiring to poison Nasir after failing in earlier attempts to rob him.
The verdict followed a detailed investigation that included a joint autopsy conducted by police and hospital officials, which confirmed the presence of poison in the victim’s body.
The court also handed a five-year prison sentence to Sani Sa’adu, another guard, for concealing information about the murder, while Gift Bako, the fourth defendant, was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.
During the sentencing, the defence counsel, Ahmad Murtala Kankia, pleaded for leniency, arguing that “the convicts have families and dependents.”
However, Justice Mashi ruled that the gravity of the crime warranted the maximum penalty.
The late Nasir, who was killed in his residence in November 2021, had served in the cabinet of former Governor Aminu Masari and was previously a member of the House of Representatives representing Mani and Bindawa Federal Constituency in 2003.
The high-profile killing shocked the state and drew widespread condemnation, prompting a swift investigation that ultimately led to the convictions.
