Another teenage girl abducted in Zaria...father cries out! A young girl named Ifeoma Nichodemus angrily

Another teenage girl abducted in
Zaria...father cries out!
A young girl named Ifeoma Nichodemus angrily
left her parents home in the Hausa community in
Zaria, Kaduna in May 2014 after an altercation
with her mum. She reportedly went to a
neighbours house to calm down or so her
parents thought...21 months later, the parents are
yet to see her. Ifeoma is now believed to be living
as Aisha somewhere in Kaduna after allegedly
being married off. Read the full story from
Sunnewsonline.ng after the cut...
Ifeoma, now 16, Saturday Sun learnt,
might have been converted to Islam, even
as her mother disclosed that she gathered
reliably that her daughter had been
married off. This was the story, told to our
reporter in November last year.
Since then, nothing happened. But by last
week Wednesday, apparently following the
public outcry over the abduction of
Bayelsa-born Ese, Mr. Nichodemus was
sighted at the Police Command
headquarters, in Kaduna. However, neither
the Police nor Mr. Nichodemus, was
forthcoming on what transpired last
Wednesday.
The only thing he told Saturday Sun when
pressed further was that “the situation
remains the same. Nothing has changed,
as my daughter is not back. The Sharia
Court handling the matter keeps
adjourning the case and as a result, we are
still where we were last year”
Speaking during an interview then,
Ndubuisi Nichodemus, resident of Sabon-
Gari, Zaria, Kaduna State, who appealed to
the authorities concerned, to help rescue
his daughter, allegedly in the custody of
another man since 2014, said her daughter
had come home late on that fateful day
and felt, as responsible parents, she
should be scolded. They did, and the girl
ran into a neighbour’s house.
Thereafter, he said the girl claimed she
had renounced Christianity for Islam as her
preferred religion, which made one of the
neighbours simply identified as Abdullahi
to take the girl to one Alhaji Shehu Khalil,
who train new converts into Islam. This is
even as Ifeoma’s biological mother
disclosed that she heard reliably that her
daughter has been given out in marriage
without her knowledge and consent.
According to Nudubuisi, “it all started in
May (2014) when she came home late and
her mother talked to her. She then left the
compound to our neighbour’s place. We
lived in the midst of Hausa who are
majorly Muslims. So, we learnt that
Abdullahi has taken her to Mallam, Khalil
who work with Ahmadu Bello University, at
Energy Research here in Samaru. The next
thing we heard was the conversion of our
daughter to Islam.
“So after we approached him for the
release of our daughter, he told us she
had traveled to Sokoto. When we reported
the case to the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN) in Zaria, and they wrote to
Commissioner of Police Kaduna State,
Directorate of State Security (DSS) for
assistance, the Police Commissioner,
Shehu Umar, sent some of his men to
Zaria, that the girl should be handed over
to her biological parents.
“But on getting to Zaria, the man has gone
to Sharia Court in Zaria to collect a court
order, granting him the custody of the girl.
This was granted without consulting her
biological father.
“So, we were told that our daughter had
been moved from Zaria to one school
called Da-rul Islam in Kaduna where new
converts are usually taken to. This attitude
is capable of igniting religion crisis in the
State. We have been in Zaria for more than
three decades without having any issue
with anybody.
“Now when we approached the school in
Kaduna alongside the CAN representative,
the school told us to go and get a written
clarification to that effect because there
was a written order from court before she
was admitted. The school later appealed to
us to come and take our girl because she
was given them problem. But we need
court order to do that.
“Even with the intervention of the
Commissioner of Police that the girl
should be released to us, the court refused
to release her and instead transferred the
case to upper Sharia court in Zaria.
“In fact, for more than a year now, we have
not set our eyes on our own daughter
when we are still alive. We are against this
impunity that our child will be in custody
of another man when we the parents are
alive.
“The whole episode had even forced us
out of the former house where it all
started. We are hereby calling on con­
cerned authorities including the State
government to come to our rescue. They
have aborted her schooling. She has also
been kept incommunicado as we are no
longer hearing from her. She remains a
Christian and not a Muslim as they claim.
She is just a 15-year-old girl and that
makes her a minor in this case. I want my
daughter back so she can continue with
her education.”
But Ifeoma’s mother, Angnes Nichodemus’
view was completely different form her
husband’s. She alleged that her daughter
was said to have been married out to a
Hausa Muslim without the consent of her
parents.
According to her, “I was told that one
Hausa boy has been given my daughter, a
minor, as wife without our input as
parents. I was made to realise that the boy
is working inside ABU here in Zaria,
though I don’t know whether as a staff of
the school or not. This is rather modern
oppression and slavery.
“We have been doing everything we could
legally. But from the way it has been, it
shows we are not one Nigeria. You can
imagine how you will feel as a mother
when your child is missing. But my
daughter’s case is different because for
more than a year now she is being in
custody of another man. No contact, no
phone call. This is rather unfortunate.”
When contacted through his mobile
telephone, the man at the centre of the
allegation, Alhaji Shehu Khalil, was not
ready to give much details on the issues
raised.
Instead, he just said “How did you manage
to get my number? Who said he has his
daughter in my custody? Well, I don’t
know anything. You can come to Zaria I
don’t know anything because I cannot talk
to you on phone.”
The Police on its part, through its Kaduna
Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO),
DSP Zubair Abubakar, confirmed the
incident but declined to comment further,
saying “you know the case is still in court
and I’m not permitted until the court
decides.”