ByEMMANUEL OGEBE

A Kano high court today convicted a Christian missionary orphanage owner, Prof Solomon Tarfa, after a two years and two-month ordeal that began with his Christmas 2019 arrest.

Sadly it was the second time in 20 years that Prof Tarfa and Du Merci orphanage were arrested, closed down and prosecuted in two-decades-long state persecution although he was found not guilty in the 2002 case and also on most charges in the 2021 case. He was however curiously convicted of forgery in Friday’s ruling by a Kano high court.

Strangely, when he was reached via phone on Feb. 22, Kano State Attorney General Lawan reportedly told a U.S.-based Nigerian journalist that:

“The Kano State government took action through the police. You have to remember that the police is a federal government agency with the responsibility of investigating possible criminal actions,” he said. “They investigated an operation here in Kano in one of the orphanages (run) by Du Merci and in Kaduna, and investigations proved that the orphanages were being run illegally.”https://baptistnews.com/article/fate-of-children-removed-from-christian-orphanage-in-nigeria-two-years-ago-still-unknown/#.YiG5EY1MGf0

Observation 1: We contend and maintain that the Du Merci five younger children are currently held in Gaya under guard of the Kano state Hisbah religious police and not the Nigerian police.

Observation 2: We contend and maintain that an identified NAPTIP official and not the police, led the initial investigation and assault on Du Merci and that even the Nigerian police was uncomfortable with the actions of NAPTIP.

He added: “There are laws in Kano state, and these laws have to be obeyed. You have to also remember that Kano state had a problem of kidnapped children, children that were kidnapped and later found in the southern part of the country. It’s a case that had international coverage and so, because of that, Kano state is very vigilant in regard to orphanages, and when the police investigated (on their own, without the prompting of the state government) and brought the case before the ministry of justice, the only thing for the state to do is to first of all go through the case and then file the relevant charges.”

Observation 3: There is no known complainant in this case. In other words, no parent claimed their child was abducted by Du Merci orphanage. It is strange that a police force that routinely requests money from distraught citizens for paper and fuel to investigate crimes on its own accord without Kano state’s “prompting” and sponsored itself to investigate Du Merci in Kano and Kaduna.

Observation 4: It is incorrect to claim that Kano had no role than to file necessary charges as requested by the police. The DPP’s advice from the ministry of justice is the determinant of whether the state will prosecute a crime or not. The AG cannot absolve or divorce itself from the prosecution by blaming the police.

Observation 5: The AG recited an unrelated incident of children taken to the south of Nigeria. He then came back and said that was the case with regard to Du Mercy orphanage. In fact the children were not in the south so this illustration was off point. Rather than adduce any element or evidence of crime in the specific case of Prof Tarfa, the AG was reciting irrelevant and unconnected stories and speculations.

Lawan said: “When the police are working, they don’t tell us what they are investigating. They (police) went (to Du Merci), took the children, closed the orphanages and sent the kids to us. Of course, you know the police cannot keep the children. When they took the children, they now requested that the state government should keep them in government orphanages, and that is exactly what happened. And the case has been charged to court.”

Observation 6: Again the Kano AG is being economical with the truth. How can he say the police does not tell them what they’re investigating but in the same breath say the case has been charged to court? Can the police prosecute a case in the high court without DPP’s (Director of Public Prosecution) advice and was it not state counsel from AG’s chambers who appeared in court? The AG’s explanation seems to be abdication of responsibility

Observation 7: The state govt and the AG are not dummies who can be commanded by the police to take in orphans without explanation or reasonable justification. It is ironic that Kano state government which “deported” thousands of Muslim almajiri street urchins after it was done exploiting them for under age voting, suddenly had the resources to to take over and house 26 Du Merci Christian orphans.

Lawan said: “The orphanage is always open. You can walk in today and see the condition of the children. Nobody is prevented from going to see their condition or how they are being taken care of. I assure you, this is a state you are talking about, a state government. You do not expect a state government to keep children and maltreat them. For what reason? It’sjust an allegation by people trying to cause mischief.”

Observation 8: The AG’s words again are full of sounds and fury signifying nothing. Yes, we do not expect children to be abused in govt custody but this is precisely what happened. We have photographic evidence of Moses burnt at the Nassarawa Orphanage. The AG has neither debunked or refuted our evidence nor furnished any contradictory evidence of his own.

Observation 9: We take up the AG’s offer to visit and see the children in Kano state custody. We ask the Kano state government once again to make necessary arrangements for Maureen the mother of Moses, US-based Nigerian journalist Anthony Akaeze, representatives of CSW UK and lawyers from US Nigeria Law Group to access and inspect the children as part of an international investigation visitation delegation.

Lawan said: “I think some people are trying to turn this into a religious issue. The allegation against Du Merci is that it was being used as a conduit to illegally send children to the southern part of the country. If we choose to bring religion into such issues, I think we will be deceiving ourselves. The issue is about an illegal orphanage until the court proves otherwise.”

Observation 10: The Kano AG seems not to know about the case his lawyers prosecuted in court. The charge against Prof Tarfa was forgery and not being a “conduit to illegally send children to the south.” The AG’s ignorance of this simple issue is gravely concerning for a Chief law officer of a state. Prof Tarfa has been acquitted since last year of abduction and no allegation of transporting kids to the south was made. The AG perplexingly said Du Merci, “illegally sent children to the southern part of the country.” With due respect to the AG, there is no such offense known to law. Nigerians do not require a visa to go from north to south. If anything, it is Kano state government that:

10.1: Illegally deported thousands of young Muslim almajiri children out of Kano state

10.2: Illegally detained and forcefully converted Du Merci orphans to Islam in violation of the Nigerian constitution

10.3: Injected religion into the issue by changing the children’s Christian names

Observation 11: The AG said it is up to the court “to prove” whether the orphanage is illegal. Courts do not prove facts. The burden of proof is on the alleger in this case the prosecution. How an elementary principle of law is misunderstood by the AG is baffling.

And as to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s report about Kano state perpetuating “some of the most egregious religious freedom violations” in Nigeria, Lawan said: “Kano State is a shining light in Nigeria in terms of religious harmony.”

According to the media report, Lawan “added that non-Muslims in the majority Muslim state are not discriminated against. He described Kano as a place comprising over 500 churches spread across the state where Christians are free to practice their religion without discrimination and that the level of peaceful co-existence and harmony among Christians and Muslims in the state contributes to making it the most peaceful state in Nigeria.”

Observation 12: With the greatest possible respect, the AG is requested to answer the following:

12:1: Is it not in Kano state that 74-year-old Mrs Bridget Agbahime was murdered in June 2016?

On June 10 [2016], the police arraigned five suspects, including Mr Ahmad, before a Chief Magistrate’s Court as well as Abdullahi Mustapha, Zubairu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi on four counts of incitement, culpable homicide and mischief, based on sections 144, 80, 51 and 327 of the state penal code.

Missing suspects were Salawiyu, Ibrahim, Dini, Isiyaku Mada, Mallam Sani and Yunusa Sufi.

Shortly after the suspects were arraigned, the police transferred all the case files to the AG’s office for legal advice and continued prosecution.

But on November 3 [2016], Kano State abruptly withdrew the case and asked the court to discharge all suspects.https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/218376-blasphemy-killing-kano-govt-wont-explain-why-suspects-in-bridget-agbahimes-murder-were-freed.html

12.2: Is it not in Kano where alcohol is perennially destroyed and Christians arrested by Hisbah religious police for illegal haircuts?

12.3: is it not in Kano Mubarak Bala a prominent atheist activist and President of the Nigerian Humanist Association was arrested on April 28, 2020 and transferred to Kano state police custody, reportedly for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a Facebook post? He allegedly posted: “Fact is, you have no life after this one. You have been dead before, long before you were born, billions of years of death.” Bala remains detained without charge, and has not been allowed to communicate with his lawyers or his family. His whereabouts and well-being remain unknown.

12.4: Is it not in Kano Yahaya Sharif-Aminu a 22-year-old Islamic gospel singer belonging to the minority Tijaniyya Sufi Islamic sect was on August 10, 2020, convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by a Kano state Shari’a court for reportedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a private WhatsApp message? He was accused of praising an imam from the Tijaniya Muslim brotherhood to the extent it “elevated him above the Prophet Muhammed.”

12.5: Is it not in Kano state that Justice Alooma Mukhtar was denied Chief Judgeship of the state judiciary because she was female though Muslim but then went on to become first female Chief Justice of Nigeria? Similarly Justice Patricia Mahmoud was recently denied Chief Judgeship of Kano State for being a Christian female while her husband was the President of the Nigerian Bar Association?

One can only conclude that if Kano state is “a shining light in Nigeria in terms of religious harmony” then hellfire may as well be the happiest place to live. With the kind of religious harmony in Kano, who needs a Russian invasion of Ukraine?

While we await a copy of the court’s ruling for forensic review, we remain deeply disappointed at the conviction of great humanitarian Prof Tarfa and urge that his one year detention from December 2019-December 2020 by treated as time served and that Tarfa be released forthwith.

In addition, Kano state is still owing Prof Tarfa the N40,000 awarded him by the high court in 2002 and we stand ready to pay the balance of his N50,000 fine once Kano pays of its outstanding judgment debt.

The state should release the children who the court established since June 2021 were not abducted by Prof Tarfa as the allegation of forgery is clearly an afterthought meant to further the persecution of the humanitarian.

Given the poor level of understanding of basic legal concepts by Kano AG and the Federal AG who also practiced in Kano, it is recommended that no additional law schools should be created but rather improve the quality of legal education in existing law schools.

•Emmanuel Ogebe is of US NIGERIA LAW GROUP.