Topic: Lawyer appeals to Sharia Court ruling to free girl in Etsu Nupe’s palace  (Read 2135 times)

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Legal fireworks will begin in the bid of a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) pastor, Raymond Uzoechina, to challenge the ruling of a Sharia Court sitting in Bida, which gave the custody of his daughter, Charity, to the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar.

She has been at the palace of the Etsu Nupe since March, allegedly on her own volition after converting to Islam and changing her name to Aisha.

The 24-year-old, who was a National Diploma student of the Polytechnic, Bida, now dresses like a woman in purdah, wearing hijab.

Pastor Uzoechina’s lawyer, Anthony Agbonlahor, said he would soon appeal the Sharia Court ruling to free Miss Uzoechina from the palace and return her home to her parents. Agbonlahor, in a petition to the Chief Judge of Niger State, complained about the conduct of the judge of the Sharia Court 1, Justice Abdulkadir Idris. He said the court had no right to take custody of the girl.

The lawyer intends to prove to the court that the ruling giving the girl’s custody to the emir is null and void because fair hearing was abandoned.

He said: “Contrary to the principle of natural justice vis- a-vis fair hearing, our client 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?”

Agbonlahor was urged by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to appeal the decision of the Sharia Court, which he sees as a travesty of justice.

He plans to prove to the court that since the defendant in the case is a Christian, the Sharia Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear it.

As the legal battle is being awaited, the row over the girl’s fate continues, with the Northern Christian Youth Solidarity and Emancipation Movement for Justice and Self-Determination (NCYSEM), faulting the alleged forceful abduction of the 24-year-old.

The organisation condemned the comment by the Acting Director of Publicity for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Muhammed Kabir Kassim, which asked the government to call the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, to order for criticising the action of the Etsu Nupe.

The NCYSEM, in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Mr James Gani, said Pastor Oritsejafor’s condemnation of the Etsu Nupe’s action was the reaction of the Christian community in Nigeria.

He said: “For the benefit of those not aware or conversant with the facts of the matter, Miss Charity Raymond Uzoechina is a Nigerian and a daughter of Pastor Raymond Uzoechina, who was forcefully abducted by some Muslim fanatics and since then, had been kept out of the reach of her parents under the so-called ‘protective custody’ of the Etsu Nupe.

“We would like to call on the Federal Government to take a critical look at the issue of abducting Christian girls into forceful Islamic marriages with impunity by some influential Muslims, particularly in the North, with a view to invoking the relevant laws that deal with crimes of this nature on them. This case should be seriously viewed as such.

“Why should an Emir of the status of the Etsu Nupe be as insensitive to his responsibility as a royal father to the extent of abducting and keeping someone under a ‘protective custody’? Does he have such powers? Against whom is he protecting the lady?”

“Whereas, we appreciate the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) that provides for the freedom of worship and choice of religion, we do not believe and cannot be deceived that the case under reference has to do with the choice of religion and or wilful conversion.”

Pastor Uzoechina does not believe that his 24-year-old daughter willingly traded Christianity for Islam.

He said he got a call from an aide of the emir on March 1, asking him to come to the palace.

He said: “He repeated the call on March 2. Overwhelmed by the call, I had to travel to Bida to ascertain what was wrong.

“At the man’s office, I met my daughter with two other women. The man said these women brought my daughter to the palace, that she has embraced Islam and she has also been withdrawn from school… I demanded that I am 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.”

Pastor Uzoechina said on March 4, two people, who claimed to be from the Bida Sharia Court, “emerged with my daughter with a folded paper and said ‘sign, sign’ but I refused”.

When he tried to take his daughter, said the pastor, he was told she was now under the custody of the Sharia Court.

The Sharia judge said: “This honourable court hereby orders that the custody of the plaintiff be entrusted in the hand of Etsu Nupe for the time being and the Etsu Nupe should employ a qualified Islamic scholar who will be teaching her and showing her how the Islamic customs is all about and the plaintiff can even be watching and selecting a man of her choice whom she will want to marry as her partner.”

Pastor Uzoechina said the girl was not brought to court for cross-examination.

He said: “They refused to bring the girl to the court for cross examination, knowing that they were the writer of all they purported my daughter had written.”

Pastor Oritsejafor, at a news conference after his re-election as CAN President, said: “The Emir of Bida must understand that Christianity and Islam must stand side by side. So, we are using this occasion to say: ‘Release our daughter for us!’”

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 Nation

 

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