Christian Group Accuses Police Officer, District Head Of Conniving To Abduct, Convert 14-Year Old Girl To Islam In Kaduna

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Christian Group Accuses Police Officer, District Head Of Conniving To Abduct, Convert 14-Year Old Girl To Islam In Kaduna

The Hausa Christian Foundation (HACFO), a Christian group, has slammed a NIgerian police offocer with an accusation, according to SaharaReporters.

The group accused the police officer, one Badeyi Bala and the district head of Makarfi among others, of abducting and forcibly converting a 14-year-old Christian girl, Esther Duniya to Islam.

HACFO alleged that little Duniya was abducted at the school she attends – Government Secondary School, Danlawal – in the Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna state and moved to the palace of the district head of Makarfi where she now lives.

It expressed concern that the minor may have been subjected to sexual assault.

According to HACFO, Duniya who hailed from Magamia Damakasuwa in the Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of the state, met her ordeal when she relocated to live with her aunt, Esther Danjuma in Ikara, on insecurity and health grounds.

The group alleged that the minor was subsequently abducted.

Therefore, the group appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari; the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to immediately wade into the matter.

Attah Brimah, Director, Advocacy Group for Religious Liberty who spoke to Duniya’s aunt quoted her as saying, “On the 5th of April 2023, she left for school in the morning but couldn’t return home. I started looking for her that very day but couldn’t find her.

"The following day, I was alerted by someone who saw Esther in the house of one Mallam Sani Danmeyamma Danlawal. On reaching the house, his daughter, Mansura, who's my niece's classmate, confessed that Esther came to her house to help with laundry, but afterwards, she left the house.

"I reported to the Village head of Danlawal, who summoned and questioned the said Mansura, and she confessed that Esther was taken to Dorayi to the house of one Aisha Basiru.

“What is disturbing is a claim that a serving police officer who goes by the name Badeyi Bala is championing the forceful Islamisation of the minor.”

According to Duniya’s father, who was also quoted by Brimah, "Despite reporting the matter at the Kunkumi Police Station and subsequent transfer of the case to the Makarfi Divisional Police Station, my daughter is still being held captive by the district head”.

The father reportedly added, "Instead of handing over Esther back to her family, the Makarfi Police Command moved her to the District Head of Makarfi. We went together with some CAN officials in Makarfi LGA to see the district head, but he refused to listen to us.

"Instead, he handed over my Esther, now Aisha to 'Da'awa', an Islamic group saddled with the responsibility to convert and indoctrinate Muslim converts."

It was gathered that Duniya's ailing father and others working to ensure her release were allegedly threatened by the Da'awa group.

Speaking to SaharaReporters on the matter, the Kaduna State CAN chairman, Rev. John Hayap, confirmed receipt of the complaint and promised to follow up on the issue.

"Yes, a complaint to that effect was written to the commissioner of police and copied to us, yesterday," Rev. Hayap said.

When contacted on his mobile phone, the spokesperson for the Kaduna State police command, Mohammed Jalige, asked, "Have you heard from her parents."

He then abruptly disconnected the call.