By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Just when
the outrage at the scandalous abduction of 14-year old Ese Oruru by a lecher from Kano who forced her
into marriage is about quitting smouldering, there is now another paedophilic
case to stoke the fury over the development. The replication of this scandal is
in consonance with the tragic character of a nation that is impervious to the
lessons of history. This is why the nation is bogged down by repeated blunders
that have consigned it to the fringes of the league of its developed
counterparts.
 |
| *President Muhammadu Buhari and the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabiru Usman |
We failed
to learn any lessons from the Oruru saga. There were no dire consequences for
the so-called emir, other religious leaders and state actors who watched while
the ordeal of Oruru lasted. This is why another case of abduction and forced
conversion and marriage has now invaded the public consciousness.
Secure in
the knowledge of a state that is incapable of inflicting well-deserved
sanctions on its citizens who violate its authority, the Emir of Katsina ,
Alhaji AbdulMumin Kabiru Usman, has allegedly abducted and married 14-year-old
Habiba Isiyaku. Continuing in his impunity, the emir allegedly assaulted Mr.
Isiyaku Tanko when he went to the palace to take away his daughter.
What
clearly confronts us with the reality of the failure of the Nigerian state in
this smutty saga is that the police are complicit. They are aware of this
condemnable abduction. Yet, they could not effectively intervene. Worse still,
the police allowed the emir to bungle what appeared to be their intervention.
While the parties involved in the case were meeting in the office of the state
police commissioner (PC), a security detail walked in and declared that the
emir asked that the girl should be brought to his palace and that her parents
should come and take her there. Before the PC, the girl was taken to the palace
from the chief security officer.
When the
father got to the palace, he was humiliated and made to sit on the floor while
the emir did not even bother to appear and address him. He only sent his aide
to tell Isiyaku that since his daughter had converted to Islam she could not be
released to him. Thus over two months now, the teenager has been in this
captivity.
