A report from vanguard has it that the Katsina Emirate Council on Thursday
declared that the marriage between 14-year-old girl, Habiba Isa, and the Emir
of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumin Usman, was irreversible.
The council said the marriage and Isa’s
conversion to Islam were voluntarily and willingly entered into by the girl.
The council told officials of the Katsina
State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, who visited Usman in his
palace over the issue, that there was no evidence that the 14-year-old girl was
forced to act against her wish.
The
family of Isiyaku Tanko of Warkaza community in the Kudun Kankara Local Government Area of
Katsina State on Wednesday alleged that Usman forcefully abducted their
14-year-old daughter and forced her into marrying him.
She was said to have been abducted on
August 16, 2016, by one Jamilu Lawal, an aide of the emir, who worked in the
palace. She was converted to Islam and held incommunicado.
Isa is expected to clock 15 years on
Saturday, October 15, 2016, and would have resumed school for the new academic
term, but for her abduction.
She was said to have passed her Junior
Secondary School Certificate Examination and was expected to start Senior
Secondary School.
The incident was blown open when the father
of the victim lodged a complaint with Stefanos Foundation, a humanitarian civil
rights organisation, which took over the matter.
Isa was allowed to appear before CAN
officials and others in the palace on Thursday, and was asked three questions
by the Kaora Katsina, Alhaji Nuhu Abdulkadir, on behalf of the emirate council.
She was asked whether she was forcefully
converted to Islam, to which she replied no.
She was also asked whether the emirate
council or any other person forced her into the marriage with the emir, to
which she also answered no.
The third question was whether by the time
she met her husband, she was already experiencing menstrual period, to which
she answered yes.
The Kaora Katsina said, “The three
questions are in line with the dictates of the Islamic religion. Since Isa has
voluntarily answered the three questions in our presence, there is no going
back on her marriage.”
Abdulkadir explained that in as much as the
emirate council would not want to be involved in the controversy surrounding
the marriage, the palace of the emir was open to all Nigerians irrespective of
religion and tribe.
A letter purportedly written by Isa’s
father was read to the gathering, apologising to the emirate council for any
embarrassment the issue might have caused it (the council).
The CAN Chairman for Katsina State, Very
Rev. Nelson Ugochukwu, however, told the emirate council that Isa’s marriage
did not have the consent of her parents, who he said, were crying for justice
in Abuja.
The CAN leader said the association was not
in support of the marriage and her conversion to Islam.
He said, “This girl (Isa) standing before
us is 14 years. She is supposed to be in school and not given out in marriage.
“We are not pleased and we demand justice.
Her parents are in Abuja, crying for justice. In my religion, you cannot give
out any lady in marriage without the consent of her parents. This marriage does
not have the consent of this little girl’s parent. The parents are not happy
with what has happened.
“As the CAN chairman in Katsina, I am the
father of all Christians in the state. Our people are not happy. The parents
told me that the girl is 14 years. She is supposed to be in school. I want
justice to be done in this matter. I want the emirate to look into the matter.
To us, the girl is still a Christian.”
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