A 13-year-old, Hauwa
Dadi, on Sunday regained her freedom, four days after being allegedly abducted
for the purpose of forcing her into a marriage.
Hauwa, an SS1 student
of the Brighter Academy Secondary School, Gashua, is a daughter of a former
Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
She was abducted and
allegedly kept at the palace of the Emir of Gashua for ‘Islamic evangelism.’
Hauwa was, however,
released on Sunday from the palace of the Emir, Alhaji Abubakar Suleman.
A civil rights
organisation, Stefanos Foundation, which blew the lid off the alleged plot to
force the teenager into marriage, had vowed that it would pursue the case till
the girl was released.
The Executive Director
of SF, Mark Lipdo, had then appealed to the relevant authorities “to step in
and help this poor woman who has been nursing her sick husband for the past six
years.”
Hauwa’s elder brother,
Jonathan Dadi, broke the news of her release to Northern City News in Jos on Sunday.
He said, “Thank you,
Mr. Journalist, thank you, The PUNCH. I am pleased to inform you that my sister
has been released to us.
“The Emir ordered that
my sister, Hauwa Dadi, should be released to us. But we signed an undertaking
that she should not be punished. We have just left the Emir’s palace. I will
call you later to give you the details.”
Our correspondent
reported that the Christian community and Evangelical Church Winning All in the
Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State had been thrown into confusion,
following the abduction of the teenager.
When contacted, the
Gashua Police Area Commander, Joseph Aloefuna, confirmed that the case was
brought to his knowledge by the Gashua Divisional Police Officer.
He said, “I wasn’t
directly involved but the DPO said he was involved and he confirmed that he was
invited into the matter.
“There was this boy who
was said to have insisted on marrying the girl (Hauwa). They are in the same
school. The matter was reported to the school management and the boy was
punished and warned to stop harassing the girl.
“Later, the girl was
abducted and the boy was the prime suspect. The boy was arrested but claimed
that the girl ran to the Emir’s palace because she wanted to convert to Islam.
“The Emir took her to
the Chief Imam; the Chief Imam said the girl was scared but he was asked to
take her to the welfare officials instead of keeping her in his custody.
“We took the statement
of everybody concerned. The Chief Imam said there was going to be a meeting on
the matter,” Aloefuna explained.
Before her release, the
mother of the girl, Deborah, had, in an interview, given a detailed account of
how the abduction plot was perfected.
She said, “On Thursday
afternoon, I had a meeting in ECWA Church, Gashua. Her twin brother, Zachariah,
took wheelbarrow to fetch water for us. My daughter removed her uniform, put on
her personal clothes and left. When one of her sisters asked her where she was
going, Hauwa said she was going to fetch water with Zachariah and disappeared.
“But before the
incident, there has been one boy who claimed to love her and wanted to marry
her. He told her to convert to Islam.”
The mother said when
she went to look for her daughter in the area, she heard that she had been
abducted by her neighbours and was taken to the Imam of Gashua, Babu Alkali
Mamman.
She then reported the
matter to one Inspector Melody Habila at the Gashua Police Command.
But when Imam Alkali
was invited to the police command, he pleaded to be allowed to take the
Jumma’at prayers before coming but he never came.
Instead, the Imam’s
lawyer later came to the police station and invited Deborah to the Emir’s
palace.
When Deborah went to
the palace, she was asked to come back, but on reaching there at 4pm, she was
neither given her daughter nor allowed to see the Emir again.
Copyright PUNCH.
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