Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Civil Society Groups for the Defence of Human rights have threatened protests over an alleged case of bigamy involving Nasiba Dauda, the daughter of Kaduna businessman Alhaji Sani Dauda.
Sani Dauda, commonly known as ASD, is a Kaduna based businessman and former managing director of Peugeot Automobile Nigerian (PAN).
Police operatives had late November swooped on Sani Dauda’s residence and arrested him over the alleged bigamy.
Related: Police arrest Kaduna Sharia court judge, 2 others for allegedly conducting marriage twice
The police were said to have acted based on a report by Abubakar Musa Abubakar, Nasiba’s estranged husband, who reported the businessman for giving out his daughter in marriage to another suitor.
Nasiba had been married to Abubakar and had sought to have the marriage dissolved. She had approached a Sharia Court in Tudun Wada, Kaduna, which dissolved the marriage in January 2018. Abubakar, her estranged husband, appealed the judgment insisting that the appeal court set aside the judgment of the lower Sharia court.
However, the groups, which mobilised over 200 youths to a press conference in Kaduna on Sunday, demanded for a return to status quo as pertains the marriage, saying all legal avenues for resolving the matter have not been exhausted.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Alhaji Musa Lawan Karkara said as far as they are concerned, Nasiba has eloped with her new found lover and has been ushered into a remarriage of bigamy in violation of the laws guiding marriage.
He said, “It is on record that Nasiba Sani Dauda was married to Abubakar Musa Abubakar sometimes in Decmeber 2016 and has not been legally divorced.”
The group said the rights of Abubakar have been trampled upon for refusing to be a willing puppet in the marriage and for advising his wife to respect the sanctity of the marriage between them.
The groups demanded that the status quo be maintained as pertaining the marriage between Nasiba and Abubakar and that ASD should desist from victimisation of Abubakar either directly of through third parties.
They also demanded that Nasiba stop playing the victim and that appropriate security agencies should apprehend and prosecute all those allegedly being used as agents against Abubakar.
“We call on all islamic scholars to stand on the side of truth and justice rather than siding with Nasiba and ASD.
“We wish to state that we shall not rest on our oars until justice is served and seen to be served,” he said.