Lucy was abducted and forcefully married by an Islamic cleric (Photo:Punch)
This is yet another shocking story of abduction, forceful conversion and marriage of a girl by an Islamic cleric.
The story of Mr. Ejeh, and his wife who lived in Talata Mafara
town, headquarters of the Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara
State whose daughter was abducted, converted and married by an Islamic
cleric identified as Alhaji Awaisu is yet another worrisome situation
showing that the authorities whose responsibility it is to protect
ordinary Nigerians are sleeping.
The story which first appeared on Punch is told below;
On October 31, 2009, their 15-year-old daughter, Lucy, was
abducted. Luckily for the couple, Lucy was found on November 3, 2009—
three days after.
According to her parents, the teenager was found in the house of an
Islamic cleric, named Alhaji Awaisu. Her father, however said the
teenager was not allowed to follow them home and that she was kept in
Awaisu’s house to the knowledge of the police.
Lucy, who was born and raised a Catholic, was said to have been immediately converted to Islam and her name changed to Lewusa.
Due to their persistent moves to retrieve Lucy, the Ejehs became
subjects of intimidation and harassment by relatives and followers of
Lucy’s abductor in Talata Mafara.
A sad Ejeh said, “We had to leave the town in 2010 due to the
level of death threats I was receiving from the community. My other
children received threats whenever they went out to fetch water or run
other errands. Also, due to my persistent demand for my child, the
management of the bank, where I worked, advised me to leave the town and
redeployed me to its branch in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital in
2010.”
By 2012, he was asked to resign due to his frequent travels to
Zamfara State in order to secure his daughter’s release. Then, he
relocated to Nasarawa State, where he got another job with a security
firm.
Ejeh has not seen his daughter till today. As if their trauma of
the last five years was not enough, only about a fortnight ago, Ejeh and
his wife received calls from the abductor of their child that he was
about to marry Lucy.
“When he called me, I told him never to try it, but he said he
would go ahead with the plan and there was nothing we could do to stop
it. He said we should do our worst,” Mrs. Ejeh
Lucy’s father also confirmed that he received a similar call from Awaisu. “I
asked him if he was her biological father, but he said I should do my
worst. But, on March 1, he (Awaisu) called me again that the wedding had
taken place on Saturday (February 27),” he said.
Lucy, the second of a family of seven children —four girls and
three boys— was at the time she was kidnapped, a Senior Secondary School
1 pupil of Government Girls College, Talata Mafara, in Zamfara State.
According to Mr. Ejeh, one of his relatives, James Oblaka, sent a
petition dated November 12, 2009, and addressed to the Executive
Secretary of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In
Persons, reporting the incident.
The petition bears the NAPTIP’s acknowledgment stamp that the
agency received it on November 13, 2009. He said NAPTIP responded to the
petition by sending two officials to Talata Mafara to investigate the
case.
“When the two men discussed with me, they said they needed to
meet with the Emir. They later returned from the Emir’s place, promising
to get back to me but I have never heard from them since then,” he said.
He also provided a copy of another letter of complaint dated
January 28, 2010, sent to the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr.
Ogbonaya Onovo.
The letter, which was also signed by Oblaka on behalf of the Ejehs,
bore the stamp of the office of the Inspector-General of Police which
shows that it was received on February 3, 2010. But David said he never
got any response from the Force Headquarters.
The helpless parents have left their case in the hand of God
because they cannot fight the institution. The only way they can get
back their daughter is if the authorities though complacent can stand up
to its responsibilities and do the needful.
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