Abducted Bayelsa girl leaves Kano under tight security

The teenager (Ese Oruru) who was abducted from her Bayelsa home and moved to Kano for a forced marriage to one Yunusa Yellow, has left Kano and is on her way to the police headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The spokesperson for the Zone 1 Police Command, Rabilu Ringim, told the news men who visited his office that a police team conveying Miss Oruru to the police headquarters in Abuja left Kano by road at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

The team, he said, comprised an assistant commissioner of police and other top ranking officers who were travelling under tight security.

“They are on their way already, and the parents are expected in Abuja today where they would be reunited,” Mr. Ringim said. “She is being taken to Abuja based on the express instruction of the IG.”

The police spokesperson said Miss Oruru was taken thorough medical check late Monday night to enable her to commence her journey back home early on Tuesday morning.

Mr. Ringim also also reported that the teenager indeed claimed she was 17 in several conversations with the police.

He said she also claimed she feared for her life if allowed to return to her parents in Bayelsa, but that the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the Zone, Shuaibu Gambo, assured that no one would harm her.

Reports say Miss Oruru was abducted from her Bayelsa home about eight months ago, and her parents, after trailing her to Kano, battled for months to have her back. They did not succeed.

Her case however caught the attention of the Nigerian authorities and citizens after the PUNCH newspaper did a detailed story on the matter on Sunday.

According to audio tape reports, Miss Oruru was heard telling a security official that she was not abducted, and would like to remain in Kano.

The police initially prevaricated in taking a decision on her release based on that claim, a development that irked many Nigerians.

A number of human rights activists and lawyers who spoke to the media on Monday unanimously said Miss Oruru should be reunited with her parents without delay.

On Tuesday morning, a rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), called on Nigerian authorities to immediately ‎commence the prosecution of Yunusa Yellow, the man who allegedly abducted the minor from her Bayelsa home, and took her to Kano for underage marriage.

In a statement Tuesday morning by its Executive Director, Ishaq Akintola, MURIC said Yunusa‎’s action “violated the law and caused a Christian family to go through a traumatic period‎.”

Mr Akintola, a professor, said the alleged abductor should be charged to court in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, and then before a Sharia court in Kano if it is proven that he had canal knowledge of the girl.