Niger Govt, CAN wades into case of Christian girl converted to Islam

Charity Uzoechina

Determined to quell the controversy that it has generated, the Niger State Government has decided to wade into the furore surrounding the alleged forceful conversion of a 25-year-old girl, Charity Uzoechina, to Islam.

Charity, who is the daughter of Pastor Raymond Uzoechina of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is said to have been a student at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, before she was allegedly hypnotised and hoodwinked into becoming a Muslim. She subsequently changed her name to Aisha Uzoechina.  Charity’s father had raised the alarm over his daughter’s abduction andhypnosis by the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar.

Pastor Raymond Uzoechina 

Many had expressed surprise and even shock that the daughter of a pastor did not only convert to Islam suddenly, but ended up in the palace of a Muslim monarch. But Charity had insisted that she was neither forced nor hypnotised to convert to Islam. She maintained: “I did it on my own. Nobody forced or enticed me to become a Muslim. I converted to Islam on my own…”

In a twist of fate, Charity not only dragged her father before a Sharia court for fear of being harmed by him as a result of her conversion to Islam, but also prayed fervently so the scales would fall off her father’s eyes for him to realize that Islam is the right religion. The case is to be heard in court Thursday.

In the meantime, Niger State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has waded into matter and hoped that the issue would be resolved out of court before the August 1 date for ruling on the appeal filed by Pastor Uzoechina on the earlier ruling of the Sharia, granting the palace custody of Charity.

Niger State CAN Chairman, Rev. Musa Dada, told Vanguard that CAN had visited the Etsu Nupe’s palace along with other CAN officials from Abuja officially on the matter and that plans were on to settle the case out of court.

Rev. Dada, who was reluctant to discuss the issue in details, simply said: “We have met with the Etsu Nupe and other stake holders involved at the Etsu’s palace and we have made progress.

“I can assure you that probably before the August 1 (Thursday) date, when the case is expected to come up at the Sharia Court, Bida, something positive is likely to come out which will put an end to the rift.”

Earlier in an interview with the Nation newspapers, Charity's father had said that Charity was an active member of the choir of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Christ Chapel zone in Kwan Kwanshe, Abuja, where her Ogwashi Ukwu, Delta State-born father is the pastor-in-charge. Her two siblings, a boy and a girl, are still active in the choir, where she has been missed since her departure to study Public Administration.
Her departure from Abuja, where her parents, Pastor and Mrs. Raymond Uzoechina, call home, was the first time she went to Bida, the emirate where Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar is the paramount ruler as the Etsu Nupe.
Charity, which the emirate now identifies as Aisha, has been at the palace of the Etsu Nupe for months. Pastor Uzoechina says she is there a captive and not a freeborn as the palace claims.
He told The Nation yesterday on phone that the emirate’s claim that he would harm her was made up to keep the girl away from her home.
Pastor Uzoechina wondered how those holding his daughter would feel if someone from the South holds their daughter. He said he was not interested in fighting the Etsu Nupe, but only interested in getting back his daughter so that the joy in his home will return, adding: “I am in the midst of Muslims and if the girl wants to practise Islam as they claim, must it be in his palace? I am not fighting him. I just want him to release my daughter.”
The pastor said his petitions to the Niger State Chief Judge and police have not been acted on.
An ailing Pastor Uzoechina, who spoke from hospital bed, said this injustice must be reversed.
“When they told me she had embraced Islam, I demanded that I was going home with her. But the man declined, saying only the emir has the power to allow the girl go with me. They took me to the emir but the emir refused my plea, saying I should come back next week.
“The last time we saw her, she was like someone in captive. She was not free. She was even crying. She greeted the mother and was crying when she was being led away. The mother is feeling bad and not happy.
“They (Sharia court) have fixed Thursday, August 1 for ruling on our appeal that they don’t have jurisdiction. You can’t judge a Christian in a Muslim court. I am appealing to them to vacate the judgment because they don’t have jurisdiction.
“It is not true that my daughter made the allegation that I would kill her if she returns home. Why should I kill her? We asked them to bring her to the court so that my lawyer can cross-examine her but they refused. If she has converted to Islam, must she practise at the Etsu Nupe’s palace? Is Etsu Nupe the chief security officer now? They should not separate my daughter and me. She has stayed in the palace for months. If they say I will harm her, let them release her to the Inspector General of Police, leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and ask me to write an undertaking. I will write an undertaking. I can’t kill my daughter. We need her at home. We are missing her.
“This matter is more than meets the eyes. All kinds of big people are threatening us. Why should I be threatened over my daughter? I trained her to this level and they just want to take her away from me like that. And if it is marraige, marriage has a process.”
The Bida Emirate, in a statement, said the Etsu Nupe should not be blamed for the girl’s alleged voluntary decision.
The statement said Miss Uzoechina approached the monarch for protection following her change of faith from Christianity to Islam on February 15.
“The royal father invited the father of the girl for talks, with the hope of reconciling them. On March 2, the father came to the palace and was taken before His Royal Highness. It was at His Royal Highness chamber the father came face to face with his daughter. After discussions with both the girl and her father, the Etsu Nupe asked the girl to go back home with her father to resolve the matter as a family.
“The girl refused to go home with her father.”
THISDAY was informed that the presidency had also asked the state to wade into the issue and resolve it. Charity's conversion has generated so much controversy as her father had accused the Estu Nupe of abducting and hypnotising his daughter and converting her to Islam.