Ese's Abduction: Emir Sanusi Has A Case To Answer

By Femi Fani-Kayode

All those that are attempting to distort the narrative about the tragic plight of Miss Ese Oruru are evil and we commit them to God’s judgement. The facts are as follows. She is 14 years old and not 18, and she was abducted from her home. She did not leave her home freely or of her own volition. She was cruelly and wickedly carried away and stolen from her parents, family and loved ones and forcefully taken by complete strangers to a distant land that she had never been before on the other side of the country.

*Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'adu Abubakar III and Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

This is not a love story about two inseparable young people: it is a story about pedophilia, child abduction, kidnapping, human trafficking, slavery, rape, impunity, wickedness and ritual sex, and Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has a case to answer. That little girl has been raped over and over again and she may well have AIDS, VVF or some other strange sexual disease by now.

Instead of sympathising with her and considering the fact that she may never be the same again in view of the physical and mental torture and trauma that she has suffered over the last few months, some misguided souls and shameless commentators have the temerity to come to social media and say that she was old enough to “get it”, whilst others say that she “loved it” and “wanted it”. I am utterly disgusted and appalled by these sentiments. Where is the humanity of those that speak and think like this? Where is their compassion and where is their soul?

May God judge them and may their own infant daughters be abducted, forcefully Islamised, raped, enslaved and kept against their will as a sex slaves in an Emir’s palace in the same way that Ese was.

Meanwhile, I just watched an AIT video in which 14 year old Ese Oruru’s mother claimed that her daughter's abductors said that it was the Emir of Kano himself that ordered her daughter's abduction and that she was kept in his palace for over one year for his pleasure. If this is true, it confirms the suspicion that the Emir is culpable. If what she has said is true, it also proves that the Emir is not only a praticing pedophile but also a very sick man and he must be held accountable.

It is important that Emir Sanusi clears the air and tells us precisely what he did with this little girl, otherwise we are entitled to assume the worst and believe what Ese’s mother has told us. Quite apart from that, we are compelled to ask whether this sort of thing has happened before and how widespread it is? How many other little girls have been stolen from their homes and forced to join harems all over the nation?

The famous high society blogger and respected celebrity Miss Linda Ikeji has just exposed yet another case. It is another case of a young 14-year-old Christian girl, by the name of MissPatience Paul, who has been abducted from her home, parents and loved ones in Benue state, forcefully taken to Sokoto State and kept there against her will in the Sultan’s palace.

Evidently we live in a strange country where evil is swept under the carpet and often justified. We live in a country where those that expose such evil abominations and speak truth are demonised, hated, despised and, more often than not, threatened with violence, persecution, intimidation, arrest, spurious criminal investigations and baseless civil court actions. More often than not this is the price of speaking the truth and exposing evil in Nigeria.

There is clearly a conspiracy of silence about the perpetuation of evil in this country amongst the ruling elite. The feeling is that anyone can get away with anything providing they belong to a particular circle and class, and providing they have money and power. And it is because they have money and power and they have powerful friends in government and in the political class that they feel that they can silence, crush, kill, abduct, cripple, ruin, sue and jail anybody that tests their will and crosses them or that exposes the truth about their blood-chilling and perverse ways.

That is the reality of Nigeria and it is a sad and sorry one. All I can say is thank God for the media, and particularly for The Punch newspaper who started the ball rolling last Sunday. If not for their cover story about Ese, with all those pictures on their front page, the little girl would not be free and at home with her family today. Instead, she would have still been in slavery and captivity at the Emir of Kano’s palace.

*14-year-old Patience Paul

We should also thank The Nation newspaper, particularly for their timely editorial on this issue which was published on March 1st and which raised some pertinent questions and offered wise counsel about the way forward. The Punch, The Nation, AIT, Channels, Tribune, The Sun, Vanguard, ThisDay, and all the other newspaper titles and television stations in the Nigerian media and social media that have done what no-one else or no other group could do.

Not even the federal government, the state governments, the political parties, the politicians, the security agencies, the lawyers or the so-called human rights groups could do what they managed to do or achieve what they have achieved. They have helped to secure the freedom of a helpless and defenceless little girl from slavery, torment, humiliation, destruction, death, disease and bondage and they have brought her home safely to her parents. We need more of this. Kudos to them and God bless them all. And may God damn and shame those that chose to remain silent and look the other way.

*Fani-Kayode is former Aviation Minister