Four more victims of the May 15 bombing of a mosque at Gadan village, Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State, died on Thursday, increasing the death toll to 21.
Twenty-five early-morning worshippers were injured in the mosque bombing attack, one person died on the day of the incident and 20 others have died at the Muhammed Specialists Hospital, Kano, where they had been receiving treatment, leaving only four surviving.
A 38-year-old man, Shafiú Abubakar, attacked the mosque with a locally-fabricated bomb on May 15.
Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State had ordered the prosecution of the bombing mastermind before the Shariah Court, vowing that he would not hesitate to sign the death warrant if the suspect is convicted and sentenced to death.
The suspect, according to the police, explained that his action was purely in hostility, following a prolonged family disagreement over the sharing of inheritance. He added that some of those who cheated him were in the mosque at the time of his attack.
The suspect was taken before an Upper Shari’a Court sitting in Rijiyar Zaki, Kano on Tuesday, May 21, where he was arraigned on three counts bordering on “grievous hurt and culpable homicide”.
Haruna Dederi, the Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, appeared as the prosecution counsel, and told the court that the defendant at about 5:15 am on May 15, 2024, used petrol to set a mosque at Gadan Village on fire during subhi (dawn) prayer.