13-year-old Christian girl abducted for forced marriage, freed from Emir’s palace

13-year-old Hauwa Dadi, daughter of a
former Secretary of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, who was
abducted and allegedly kept at the
palace of the Emir of Gashua for ‘Islamic evangelism’ through forced marriage, regained her freedom on Sunday, four days after she was allegedly abducted.

The SS1 student of Brighter Academy
Secondary School, Gashua, Yobe State,
freedom from the palace of the Emir,
Alhaji Abubakar Suleman, came after a
civil rights organization, Stefanos
Foundation, through it Executive
Director of SF, Mark Lipdo, blew the lid
off the alleged plot to force the teenager
into marriage.

It was gathered that the Christian
community and Evangelical Church
Winning All in the Bade Local
Government Area of Yobe State had
been thrown into confusion, following
the abduction of the teenager. Gashua
Police Area Commander, Joseph
Aloefuna who confirmed the abduction
story told Punch correspondent;
“There was this boy who was said to
have insisted on marrying the girl
(Hauwa). They are in the same school.

The matter was reported to the school
management and the boy was punished
and warned to stop harassing the girl.
Later, the girl was abducted and the
boy was the prime suspect. The boy
was arrested but claimed that the girl
ran to the Emir’s palace because she
wanted to convert to Islam.
The Emir took her to the Chief Imam;
the Chief Imam said the girl was scared
but he was asked to take her to the
welfare officials instead of keeping her
in his custody. We took the statement
of everybody concerned. The Chief
Imam said there was going to be a
meeting on the matter.”