Ese Oruru: MURIC Calls for Prosecution OF Alleged Abductor

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

By Niyi Adeyi

The Muslim Right Concern (MURIC) has recommended prosecution for teen Ese Oruru alleged abductor, Yinusa aka Yellow, if eventually found guilty of the allegation.

Affirming that it could not afford to be partisan in the matter, the group declared that Ese’s alleged lover has violated the law and caused a Christian family to go through a traumatic period, stressing “unless it can be proved that the girl came to Kano separately and alone, not in the company of Yinusa, the latter stands culpable. He should therefore be handed over to the Yenagoa authorities with immediate effect”.

“While we are aware that Yunusa Yellow’s intention was marriage inspired by love and not abduction for pecuniary benefits, the position of the law is quite different. Although the two lovers eloped and the girl herself was a consensual participant as confirmed in the audio clip, the girl’s age as a minor gives her parents every right to reclaim her.

“But the boyfriend cannot go scot free if it is established that he had had canal knowledge of the girl. In fact, his case is judiciable both before the Kano Shariah court and the Yenagoa court although the latter has the stronger jurisdiction. The girl should be properly examined in the hospital in Kano today before being taken to Yenagoa.

“The fact that Yunusa is a Muslim cannot becloud our sense of justice” MURIC affirmed.

This it insisted must be done in order to serve as deterrent since such conduct is capable of igniting anti-Muslim emotion.

In a statement issued Tuesday in Lagos by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Lakin Akintola, MURIC made a clear distinction between the case and those involving Muslim families alone, regardless of the age of the girl.

“The sensationalization of intra-Muslim marriages to minors is uncalled for and, more often than not, done with hidden malice. What happens among Muslims is strictly a Muslim affair and should remain so as long as it is Shariah-compliant.

“The issue of Ese Oruru’s conversion does not even arise. She is deemed to be an adherent of her parents’ religion until she attains maturity. Section 38 (ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 stresses the right of parents on their children in matters of religion. The purported conversion is therefore null and void and of no consequence whatsoever. Ese Oruru cannot be free to choose her own faith until she is 18.

“MURIC is not in any way excited by the girl’s purported conversion for lack of due process. There must be no overzealousness in matters concerning conversion to Islam. Just as Qur’an 2:256 affirms that there must be no compulsion in religion, in the same manner, Muslims must not exhibit excessive enthusiasm to win converts” the group clarified.

The organization commended the Emir of Kano, His Eminence, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, for displaying immense understanding on the issues at stake as well as acted like a responsible leader and a knowledgeable Muslim by ordering that the girl should be returned to her family.

It declared: “We are on the same page with the Emir and we believe that the matter should have ended there. As far as we are concerned therefore, the girl is still a Christian. We wish her journey mercies back to Bayelsa”.