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A Yobe State High Court in Damaturu has sentenced 45-year-old Abubakar Musa, popularly known as Daddy, to death by hanging for the culpable homicide of his wife, Ammi Adamu Mamman. The judgment, delivered by Justice G.K. Kaigama of High Court 1, comes nearly three years after the January 2024 killing and marks a rare instance of a femicide case reaching conviction and a capital sentence.
Musa was arrested on January 4, 2024, following the death of the 42-year-old Ammi at their residence in New Bra-Bra Housing Estate, Damaturu. Police reports indicated that the couple were in the same bed when Mamman sustained a fatal wound to the neck from a sharp object, leading to severe bleeding. Musa claimed an unidentified intruder attacked her and fled with the help of others, but the court rejected his not-guilty plea. After hearing testimony from eight prosecution witnesses, Justice Kaigama ruled that the prosecution had proved all essential elements of culpable homicide beyond reasonable doubt.
Ammi, a staff member of Yobe State University, was buried in Potiskum on January 9, 2024. Her death prompted mourning within the university community. In a February 2024 newsletter, the institution’s then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mala Mohammed Daura, expressed grief and called for justice for those responsible. Musa retains the legal right to appeal the judgment within the prescribed period.
The case occurs against a backdrop of persistently high numbers of gender-related killings of women and girls across Nigeria. Data from the DOHS Cares Foundation’s Femicide Observatory and related trackers show that documented femicide cases remain at crisis levels. In 2024, reports recorded approximately 133–150 women and girls killed in gender-related violence. Figures for 2025 rose sharply, with documentation of 172–182 cases resulting in around 197 deaths. In the early months of 2026 alone, trackers recorded dozens more cases, with one mid-year review noting 54 reported incidents in the first half of the year.
While the death sentence in the Yobe case represents a measure of accountability that advocates say is too often missing, women’s rights groups continue to stress that isolated convictions are insufficient. They call for systemic reforms to prevent gender-based killings, protect survivors, and ensure that the intentional killing of women because of their gender is explicitly recognised and addressed under Nigerian law.
