By our reporter
KANO — The Kano State Hisbah Board has addressed the controversy surrounding the release of Mansura, a young woman at the center of a high-profile abduction and religious conversion dispute in Kibiya Local Government Area.
While the board maintains it acted under the rule of law and a Federal High Court mandate, the girl’s mother has raised an alarm, alleging that her daughter is a minor who was kidnapped, brainwashed, and married off without consent.
Speaking earlier on Rahma Radio’s ‘Ku Karkade Kunnuwa’ program, the distraught mother, Amina Reka, narrated a harrowing two-year search for her daughter. She claimed the girl disappeared after school and was taken to Nariya in Garko LGA by individuals identified as William, Mato, Oli, and Luka.
“I begged them to return my daughter because she is not a Christian, but they told me to forget about her,” the mother told Rahma Radio. “I later heard they married her off without my knowledge or her father’s. She is only 14 years old, yet they forced her to change her religion. She is not in her right senses anymore.”
The mother’s plea for intervention from Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and the Emir of Kano sparked widespread outrage across the state.
The Hisbah Defense: Federal Jurisdiction and Consent
In a swift response to the backlash, the Director-General of the Kano State Hisbah Board, Abba Sa’idu Sufi, revealed that the matter had escalated beyond state jurisdiction.
Sufi explained that Mansura was kept in Hisbah’s custody for over three weeks following an initial State High Court order. However, the situation changed when the “husband” obtained an order from the Federal High Court.
“She refused to eat while with us because she feared we would influence her mind,” Sufi stated. “The Federal Court ordered her release, and we were even threatened with contempt of court. We eventually took her to the Kano State Commissioner for Justice (Attorney General).”
According to Sufi, the Attorney General questioned the girl three times. Each time, she reportedly insisted she was 22 years old, of sound mind, and wished to remain a Christian. Based on these statements and the Federal mandate, she was released to her husband.
Discrepancies in the Case
The case has left the public divided, as several key facts remain in dispute:
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