A 13-year-old SS1 student of the Brighter Academy Secondary School, Gashua, Yobe State, Hauwa Dadi has been abducted.

A statement issued on Sunday evening by Mark Lipdo of Stefanos Foundation indicated that she was kept at the palace of Abubakar Mai Umar Suleman, the Emir of Gashua, since Thursday.

“Mrs. Deborah Dadi, wife to the former CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) Secretary of Gashua, Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State has just been crying on phone to me this night 4/11/17 (November 4, 2017) for the release of her daughter,” the statement read.

Lipdo explained: “On this day, Miss Hauwa Dadi went to help her twin brother push water home on a cart, called ‘push push’, but she has not returned home since then.

“Hauwa’s mother, Mrs. Deborah Dadi said she went to look for her daughter in the neighbourhood and heard that Hauwa has been abducted by her neighbours and was taken to Imam Babu Alkali Mamman, the Imam of Gashua.

“Mrs. Deborah then reported the matter to Inspector Melody Habila at the Gashua Police Command. When Imam Alkali was invited to the Command, he pleaded to be allowed to take the Juma’at prayers before coming but he never came. Instead, the Imam’s lawyer later came to the station and invited Deborah to the Emir’s palace.

“Hoping that she would be given her daughter, Deborah left for the Palace without informing the Police. She met the Divisional Police Officer, Abdulkadir Aljamel already seated with the Emir. After interrogating her, the Emir asked her to come back today the 4/11/17 (November 4, 2017) for her daughter.

“When Deborah went to the palace this morning, she was asked to come back at 4pm. On reaching there at 4pm this evening, she was neither given her daughter nor allowed to see the Emir again.”

Mrs. Dadi was quoted as saying, “They do this to us because we are few.” According to her, Christians are just 10 percent in Gashua.

Stefanos Foundation appealed to relevant authorities to “step in and help this poor woman who has been nursing her sick husband for the past six years.”

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