Women's affairs minister Hajiya Alhassan to prosecute those responsible for Ese's abduction

WOMEN'S affairs minister Hajiya Aisha Alhassan has vowed that those responsible for the abduction of 14-year old Bayelsan girl Ese Oruru's abduction and forceful entry into a marriage in Kano will be prosecuted.   In what has led to a national outcry, Ese was abducted by a man from Kano known as Yunusa and whisked off to the northern city where she was converted to Islam and forcefully married in the emir's palace.
In one of the first cases of inter-regional force marriage, the girl, who was abducted in August last year without the knowledge of her family, was later traced to the palace of the Emir of Kano Alhaji Lamido Sanusi Mohammed.   Given the embarrassment the matter caused, the emir ordered the Shariah Court sitting in Kano to immediately release the Bayelsan girl to the police so she can be returned to her parents. He has since distanced himself and the Kano Emirate Council from the purported abduction by her suspected lover.   Now in police protective custody, Ese and Yunusa are said to have been flown to Abuja where they will be interrogated further. Adding that charges will be brought against anyone found culpable of committing a crime against a minor, Hajiya Alhassan has condemned the abduction and forced child marriage of the girl.   Ese was kidnapped from her home in Opolo in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and renamed Aishat on arriving in Kano. However, Hajiya Alhasan, a former All progressives Congress governorship candidate in Taraba State, who was on course to become Nigeria's first ever female governor, has made it clear that this is against the law and anyone found guilty will be punished accordingly.   Hajiya Alhassan said: “Our laws are very clear on the case. Ese Oruru is 14 and as such cannot consent to marriage, so any such union she’s involved in is illegal. “I have been in touch with the police authorities in Kano over Ese’s immediate release to her parents and we are making progress.  Ese is still a child under our laws and her right to freedom of movement is subject to parental control, so she must be returned."   She added that Nigeria's Child Rights Act says no person under 18 is capable of contracting a valid marriage and a marriage so contracted is null and void. Also, the act clearly states that anyone who marries a child is liable to a fine of N500,000 (£1,784) or five years imprisonment, or both.   According to the minister, no culture, religion or personal conviction supersedes the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and reiterated her position that Ese must return home. She noted that Ese’s case had brought to the fore the need to protect the rights of children and women in the society, stressing that her ministry will not relent in this fight.   Emir Sanusi added:“It’s un-Islamic for a lady of her age to give herself off for marriage and also unacceptable for the lady to leave her parents just to get married to any man, anywhere and especially in Islam. On that note, I instructed that the lady be taken to the assistant inspector general of police in Bayelsa and he should hand her over to her parents."