Church cries foul over
marriage of a 13-year-old girl
By NWAGBO NNENYELIKE, Ilorin
Friday
April 14, 2006
In some parts of the North, early marriages are common phenomenon.
But the case of Hauwa Kulu Labo, a 13-year-old student of
Our Lady of Fatima Nursery and Primary School, Gusau, Zamfara
State presents a grim picture of a thick plot hatched without
the consent of her father.
And her case is already causing ripples in the state as the
catholic community is now on a collision course with the government
over what it described as forced conversion of Hauwa to Islam
and her forced marriage to a 25-year-old Muslim.
This “clash” is coming on the heels of the introduction
of Sharia law in the state by the government, which has still
not gone down well with the Christain community.
For Mallam Isah Labo, a 52-year-old Catholic from Kwattar-Yamma
in Samawa District of Kwatar Kwashi emirate in Bungudu Local
Council, the marriage of his daughter to a Muslim remains
a mystery. It came like a thunderbolt from the sky.
Hauwa, fourth among seven other children in the family is
from a broken home which marriage was solemnized in a church
in 1973. Both Mallam Isah Labo and his wife, Rabi were Christians.
But the introduction of the Sharia legal system in Zamfara
State in 2000, saw Rabi converting to Islam, everything went
sour, between the couple, a situation which forced Rabi to
sue for divorce.
Interestingly, the sharia court which heard the divorce suit
did not only uphold her wish, it also granted her the custody
of the children. Nevertheless, Mallam Labo was able to secure
the custody of little Hauwa.
Fate has an uncanny way of thrusting its pangs on people.
For Hauwa, it came in a positive way as an International non-governmental
organisation (NGO) awarded her a scholarship to study at the
Catholic owned Our Lady of Fatima Nursery and Primary School
in Gusau.
However, the dream of Mallam Labo to give Hauwa resounding
education ran aground late last year when the young girl went
to Dashi, the abode of her mother, Rabi, to spend her holiday.
Now, married to another man in Dashi village, Rabi was said
to have prevented Hauwa from returning to her father.
A family source said, “The next day when Hauwa’s
uncle went to pick her, he was told by her mother that she
was in the custody of her grandfather.
“After several efforts by Mallam Labo to get his daughter
back to school failed, he decided to take the case to Our
Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Gusau,” the source said.
The church acted promptly, dispatching a team of elders led
by the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church,
Gusau, Rev. Father Michael Tukura to plead for Hauwa’s
release. It was a vain mission as all entreaties made to get
her back home failed.
Unknown to the team and Mallam Labo, Hauwa had been converted
to Islam in the full glare of adherents present at the Ali
Akilu Square venue of the Friday preaching session. Hauwa’s
maternal grandfather had presented her for conversion at the
weekly preaching session, usually organised by the Zamfara
State Government. “It was at the preaching session that
Hauwa was formally presented as a converted Muslim,”
the family source said.
But the worst was yet to happen. Few days after she was converted,
Hauwa was married off to a 25-year-old Ibrahim Musa, also
of Dashi village.
Speaking to journalists, Rev. Father Michael Tukura, the Parish
Priest of Our Lady of Fatima said the combined efforts of
the Church and the Masihiya (Association of Hausa Fulani Christians)
to get Hauwa back to school yield “no positive result.
“We went and pleaded with the grandfather to allow the
girl to resume school only for him to take her the next morning
to Ali Akilu Square, Gusau where she was proclaimed to have
converted to Islam.
“Our concern now is not her faith but we feel that she
is too young to be married and besides, she is still in primary
school. This girl is a minor by law and we think that what
was done was not right. We have decided that we will do everything
within the law to save this girl.
He said the police in Zamfara State have refused to act as
the command said it would not act on a case that is not criminal
in nature.
“When we went to the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police
to brief him about the case, he could not see us. He sent
one of the officers to tell us that apart from the unlawful
consent of her father, there was no offence committed which
falls within the functions of the police to warrant investigation,
let alone prosecution,” the parish priest said.
Tukura urged all concerned NGO’s and human right activists
to come to the rescue of the Church even as it prepares grounds
for court action.
Meanwhile, a suit filed by Mallam Labo at the Higher Sharia
Court in Kwatarkwashi has stopped the movement of little Hauwa
from her husband’s custodian to her husband’s
house.
Another suit has also been filed at the high court in Gusau
seeking to enforce Hauwa’s fundamental human rights.
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