Following the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan, the Niger State Government has waded into the case between Pastor Raymond Uzoechina and his daughter, Charity, who was allegedly forced into accepting Islam at the Etsu Nupes’s palace in the ancient city of Bida, Niger State.
Addressing a high powered meeting that took place at the instance of the state government in Government House, the Acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, said the state decided to step into the matter because of the controversy generated by the case.
“The case is in court and there is nothing we can do except it is withdrawn so that we will see how we can open a channel of mutual trust between the pastor and his daughter because the girl is afraid that something may happen to her back home.”
Among the people present at the meeting, which lasted for about two hours, were the former governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kure, and the national secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
Meanwhile, the ongoing 3rd Nigerian Bar Association’s Law Reform conference holding in Minna, has stalled Pastor Raymond Uzoechina’s suit before a High Court in Bida, seeking to bar Sharia Court from listening to his daughter’s case.
Charity, an ND 1 student who was withdrawn from Federal Polytechnic, Bida was alleged to have been forcibly converted to Islam by the Chairman of Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers and the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubarkar, few months after she was withdrawn from school.
The suit and others slated for hearing at the court, our correspondent gathered was adjourned to September 17 for hearing, owing to the mandatory attendance of the ongoing conference in Minna by all lawyers in the state.
The pastor had filed the suit on July 15, seeking the High Court to bar the Sharia Court from entertaining the suit by his daughter Charity (Aisha) on the ground that the Sharia Court lacks the competence and jurisdiction to hear the suit.
No comments:
Post a Comment