The Presidency has stepped into the case of the girl in the palace of
Etsu Nupe, Charity Uzoechina, who is said to have converted to Islam
and adopt the name, Aisha. The intervention of President Goodluck
Jonathan made the Niger State government convene a meeting at the
Government House, Minna. The Presidency directed the state government to
ensure that the issue did not snowball into religious crisis.
Miss Uzoechina, 25, has been living at the palace of Etsu Nupe,
Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar on the order of a Sharia Court since March.
The government may eventual take custody of the lady today as soon as
the Sharia Court in Bida vacate the March 4 order, which placed the
girl in the Etsu Nupe’s custody.
The acting state governor, Musa Ibeto, met with the Etsu Nupe, the
Niger State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),
Pastor and Mrs Uzoechina, their daughter, former Governor Abdulkadir
Kure and some senior security officers.
Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Ibeto, who is the acting
as governor in the absence of Governor Babangida Aliyu, said the meeting
was to reunite the girl with her family in a way that she would be
confident that no harm would befall her.
Ibeto said in Niger State, religion was not a problem because there
was harmonious religion relationship and peaceful coexistent of the
adherents of the two major religions.
He said in as much as Miss Uzoechina has the right to practise any
religion of her choice, they would seek the vacation of the order which
gave the palace the custody of the lady so as to reconcile her with her
parents.
The deputy governor said: “Unless the order is vacated, nobody can
take any decision. It is only if the order is vacated that she can
decide on her own.”
The counsel to Pastor Uzoechina, Femi Ikotun, who attended the
meeting, said it was agreed that the order should be vacated from Sharia
Court in Bida, adding that “we have already applied for it to be
vacated”.
The suit filed by Pastor Uzoechina at the High Court, Bida could not
hold yesterday because of the third annual Nigerian Bar Association
(NBA) Criminal Justice Reform conference in Minna. The conference
stalled the suit challenging the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court.
The father of the girl sought the Court order to bar the Sharia Court
from entertaining the suit by his daughter on the ground that the
Sharia Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit.
All suits in the court were adjourned to September 17 for hearing due
resolution of the local NBA mandating all members to attend the
conference.
An official of the court told our correspondent that all the cases in
the court were adjourned to September 17 because courts were going on
vacation from August 5 and would resume September 15.
Pastor Uzoechina, in an in
terview with The Nation last
Thursday, said: “My daughter was crying when we saw her. They never
allowed us speak with her. It is not true that the royal father invited
me and the girl for talks, with the hope of reconciling us. On March 2, I
came to the palace and was taken before the Etsu Nupe. The Etsu Nupe
never asked the girl to go back home with me as claimed.
“When they told me she had embraced Islam, I demanded that I was
going home with her. But the man declined, saying only the emir has the
power to allow the girl go with me. They took me to the emir but the
emir refused my plea, saying I should come back next week.
“The last time we saw her, she was like someone in captive. She was
not free. She was even crying. She greeted the mother and was crying
when she was being led away. The mother is feeling bad and not happy.
You need to come to Bida on August 1 when they will rule on our
challenge to the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court for you to appreciate
what we are going through.
“They claimed to have served me and I refused to come to the court
when all they did was to bring a paper and said ‘sign, sign’, without
explaining anything to me until they later said they were from the
Sharia Court. Contrary to the principle of natural justice vis- a-vis
fair hearing, I was not served either with the court summons/processes
or hearing notice. The case was filed on March 4; the case was heard
March 4 and judgment delivered on the same day. In fact, judgment was
also executed on the same date. The question is: why the urgency?”
“They (Sharia court) have fixed Thursday, August 1 for ruling on our
appeal that they don’t have jurisdiction. You can’t judge a Christian in
a Muslim court. I am appealing to them to vacate the judgment because
they don’t have jurisdiction.
“It is not true that my daughter made the allegation that I would
kill her if she returns home. Why should I kill her? We asked them to
bring her to the court so that my lawyer can cross-examine her but they
refused. If she has converted to Islam, must she practise at the Etsu
Nupe’s palace? Is Etsu Nupe the chief security officer now? They should
not separate my daughter and me. She has stayed in the palace for
months. If they say I will harm her, let them release her to the
Inspector General of Police, leader of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN) and ask me to write an undertaking. I will write an
undertaking. I can’t kill my daughter. We need her at home. We are
missing her.
“This matter is more than meets the eyes. All kinds of big people are
threatening us. Why should I be threatened over my daughter? I trained
her to this level and they just want to take her away from me like that.
And if it is marriage, marriage has a process.”
The Bida Emirate, in a statement, said the Etsu Nupe should not be blamed for the girl’s alleged voluntary decision.
The statement said Miss Uzoechina approached the monarch for
protection following her change of faith from Christianity to Islam on
February 15.
“The royal father invited the father of the girl for talks, with the
hope of reconciling them. On March 2, the father came to the palace and
was taken before His Royal Highness. It was at His Royal Highness
chamber the father came face to face with his daughter. After
discussions with both the girl and her father, the Etsu Nupe asked the
girl to go back home with her father to resolve the matter as a family.
The girl refused to go home with her father.”
In interviews with two newspapers, Miss Uzoechina was quoted as
saying she was not forced to embrace Islam, adding that she was praying
for her parents to see that her new-found faith was the way to go.
All eyes will be on the Sharia Court, Bida, which is today expected
to vacate the order allowing her to stay with the Etsu Nupe for the
governor to take custody and reunite her with her parents
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