By Juliana MAIRIGA, Minna
A farmer in Shudna village in Shiroro local government of Niger state, Mr. Habila Gambo has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Ibrahim Idris over the abduction and forceful marriage of his 16 years old daughter, Janet by a tailor, Nasiru Yusuf in Erena village of the state.
In the petition titled “compliant of criminal breach of trust, kidnapping unlawful abduction, and forceful marriage of a minor, Janet Habila by one Nasiru Yusuf of Erena village in shiroro local government of Niger state”, Mr. Gambo said his minor daughter was kidnapped and forced into marriage by the man who was entrusted to train her as a tailor.
The petition filed on behalf of Habila by Cosmic Chambers signed by Daniel Omakor Esq and dated 24th April 2017, copied to other agencies and made available to newsmen in Minna, also accused a Sharia Court Judge in Erana of conspiring with Yusuf to secretly ordain a marriage between Janet and Yusuf under unknown Islamic law without the consent of her Christian parents knowing very well that the girl is a minor and a Christian.
The petition read in part, “On 15th March, 2017 our client got home and was showed a summons from the Sharia Court, Erena commanding him to attend court the following day unfailingly.”
“Our client accompanied by his cousin one Pastor Ishaya Jagaba without knowing the nefarious grand plan that awaited him was shocked to hear from the Judge of the Sharia Court that his daughter Janet had converted and embraced Islam and her name has been changed to Zainab and she has been married to Nasiru Yusuf of Erena whom she has been entrusted to learn the art of tailoring”.
Habila said that the judge ignored his vehement objection to the purported marriage on ground that his daughter is a minor and incapable of giving consent for marriage without her parents.
He expressed shock that the judge ordered him out of the court saying he was only summoned to be informed of the marriage and nothing more.
He lamented that earlier petition to the Minna Area Police Command did not yield any form of justice and Nasiru was released at state CID and Janet handed over to the suspect after establishing the fact that the girl was minor and there was no parental consent
The petitioner is demanding the immediate return of Janet to her parents from unlawful custody, and the conduct of a thorough medical examination on her as she is likely to have been violated and defiled by Nasiru.
He prayed the IGP to order full scale investigation into the matter and the immediately prosecute of Nasiru Yusuf alongside the judge.
Meanwhile, the Niger state Judicial Service Commission and the state Chief Judge, Mariam Dzukogi have been called upon to investigate the role of a Sharia Court judge in Erena area of the state, Umar Shehu in the abduction and forceful marriage of an underage girl named Janet Habila, in his court without the consent of her parents.
The judge, according to the petition filed by counsel to Habila Gambo, father of the 16- years- old girl, ordered the marriage of Janet to one Nasiru Yusuf in the absence of her parents on false claim that she had converted to Islam.
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