Hmmm...At last, the mother of 14-year-old Ese Oruru, who was kidnapped from Bayelsa State by a Kano state indigene, Yunusa, has been reunited with her daughter in Abuja.
She met with her mother after almost eight months of her abduction from Bayelsa to Kano State by Yunusa, aka Yellow.
Speaking with The Punch, the young lady said she’s not fine.
The following conversation ensued between her and the newspaper’s correspondent.
“How are you?” The reporter asked. She laughed and replied ‘Fine.”
“We are glad you are safe and on your way back home.”
“Who is this,” she asked.
“How was your journey?”
“We have not started the journey, maybe tomorrow,” she said, probably referring to the onward trip to Bayelsa.
“Hope they treated you well and you are fine?”
“I am not fine,” she said curtly.
“Why?”
She replied, “When I come we should see. I don’t know you.”
“I will be looking forward to meeting you,” the journalist replied.
The Muslim Rights Concern has condemned Ese's alleged abductor, Yunusa for taking the under-aged girl to Kano in August 2015 and marrying her without her parents consent. In a statement released by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola yesterday March 1st, the group said that the fact that Yunusa is a Muslim does not becloud their sense of judgement. The group called for his prosecution.
The statement also added that Ese's conversion to Islam is null and void as she is still too young to decide what religion asides that of her parents to follow. The statement reads in part
“Our position is based on the fact that the girl is a minor. Attempting to marry off the girl without her parents’ permission is not only a breach of common law, but also a violation of the Sharia provision on the need for the parents’ approval before nikah (Islamic marriage) can be deemed valid (La nikah bila waliyyin). Of particular significance in this regard is the express command in the Glorious Qur’an that women should be married with the permission of their parents. The Qur’an says inter alia, ‘…And marry them (i.e. women) with the permission of their parents (Qur’an 4:25).’ The boyfriend cannot go scot-free if it is established that he had had the carnal knowledge of the girl. In fact, his case is judiciable both before the Kano Sharia Court and the Yenagoa Court. The fact that Yunusa is a Muslim cannot becloud our sense of justice. The Qur’an commands Muslims to ‘…Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses of Allah, even if the case is against yourselves, or your parents, or your family, and whether it is against a rich or poor man… (Qur’an 4:135). Unless it can be proved that the girl came to Kano separately and alone, not in the company of Yunusa, the latter stands culpable. Section 38 (ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, stresses the right of parents on their children in matters of religion. The purported conversion is therefore null and void and of no consequence whatsoever. Ese Oruru cannot be free to choose her own faith until she is 18.”the statement added
Ese Oruru, the 14 year old girl "abducted" by one Yinusa and taken
to Kano where he converted her to a Muslim and married her was at the
police headquarters in Abuja yesterday. Ese is still insisting that she
was never abducted and that she and Yinusa have been "friends" long
before she followed him to Kano. She also insist that she is 17 and not
14 as her parents are claiming. Meanwhile she will be handed over to her
parents today at a press conference which will have the Inspector
General of Police, Solomon Arase, in attendance.
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