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Controversy has continued to trail the circumstances surrounding the curious conversion into Islam of a 25-year-old pastor's daughter, Miss Charity Uzoechina who lives in the palace of Etsu Nupe in Niger State with denied access to her parents since her conversion, reports Aisha Wakaso


Though the girl has continued to state that she got converted on her own volition saying that no one forced her into Islam but her father is of a strong opinion that his daughter was not only forced into Islam but hypnotized.

Pastor Raymond Uzoechina, a clergy with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in kwankwashe, Suleja has accused the Emir of Bida, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar of forced conversion of his daughter from Christianity into Islam and keeping custody of her without access to her by him or any member of the family.

Pastor Uzoechina had earlier petitioned the Nigerian Police Force, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) accusing the Emir and the Sharia Court in Bida of kangaroo justice, saying that he got a call from the Emir's palace inviting him to the palace and informing him of his daughter's conversion on 1st March, 2013.

He said since then, the Emir has refused to release his daughter to him adding that a Sharia court in Bida claimed that his daughter brought a case before it that she had become a Muslim and he (her father) threatened her life and that she did not want to go back home with him.

She also sought that the court should give her custody to a muslim who can help her to grow in her new faith. Uzoechina claimed that ever since she her daughter got converted, she has been in the emir's palace without access.

The Pastor in some of the petitions which were made available to THISDAY said several attempts have been made to get Etsu Nupe to release his daughter to him, CAN or the Police, but it has met brick walls.

When THISDAY contacted Miss Uzoechina in Bida, she spoke extensively saying nobody convinced her to become a Muslim with the promise to give her anything adding that she is 25 years old and according to the law, she has the right to decide which religion to practice.

“I accepted Islam on my own, nobody forced or enticed me to accept Islam. I am not going back to my father because of his actions. He has been threatening me, he even said to me that he will send me back to the village and nobody will see me again. I am 25 years and I can practice any religion of my choice,” she said.

“If I want to sue him to court, I can because at this age, it is my right to practice any religion I want.”

She wondered why her case was generating so much media attention adding that she is not the first Nigerian or first person in the world to leave Christianity for Islam.

"Am I the first to convert to Islam in Nigeria so what is it? Why are they making so much noise about mine?” He queried. “I have said it many times that nobody asked me to become a Muslim, it is people that are talking rubbish.”

When asked if she had problems with her parents before she decided to convert to Islam, she responded that she didn’t have any problem whatsoever with them before leaving for school.

"It’s people that are pushing my father and I am praying for him and other members of my family to know that this is the right religion.”

She added that her father and the people around him are just pointing accusing fingers at the Etsu Nupe for no reason saying she voluntarily submitted herself to Emir to be cared for in the face of the challenge over her conversion.

“When I decided to become a Muslim, I knew what my father is capable of doing to me, so in fear, I ran to the Etsu Nupe's palace, he rejected me twice and sent me away because he said my parents were not aware, it was the third time that he collected my father's number and he was told of my decision and invited him to the palace where he came the following day."

"You need to see the way my father behaved on that day at the palace, you will be shocked and there and then I told him I won't follow him home."

"I have told my father that my conversion to Islam does not affect our relationship that he remains my father and my family. I told him that my religion cannot separate us because they are still my family and I can visit them and they can also visit me."

She then raised a poser, “If your father is behaving this way, and doing these kinds of things, will you be happy and does his action prove to you that he will allow you to practice any religion you like in his house like he promised?”

She took a swipe at the media and some organisations saying this is a family problem adding that they should stop interfering and allow the family to resolve whatever differences without interference.

"This is a family issue and I will want people to stop interfering in my family issue because they are the ones making this issue to become more complicated."

When asked if she had spoken to her mother or her other siblings since she became a Muslim in March, she said her mother does not have a phone neither has she spoken to her father or her siblings.

When our correspondent asked why she hadn't resumed school since Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) had called off strike and schools had resumed, she said she was not resuming soon until all the problems die down adding that her life is being threatened

"I will resume school but not yet because my father has gone to the extent of trying to use people to kidnap me and that is why I am scared of even resuming school or going out of the gate of the palace."

In a telephone conversation, the secretary of the Emirate Council, Alhaji Abdulmalik Usman in angry tone told our correspondent that no details on the issue could be made available again since journalists have gone to the press before contacting the Emirate in the past.

“You cannot get any details on the phone since you have gone to publish before getting our own side of the story,” he said.

When THISDAY contacted Pastor Uzoechina, he said he would not want to speak on the issue for now as he has been advised to put a hold on speaking with Journalists adding that some influential people have waded into the matter and he would want to respect them and see the outcome of their mediation.

"For now, there is a hold on speaking to the press. We are asked to hold any further comment for any publication because some top citizens of this country have waded into the matter and I would want to accord them the respect and wait to see how far they will go in mediating.”

Earlier in an interview published in The Nation Newspapers, Uzoechina had said, “When I insisted during my first visit to Bida that I wanted to see her, they brought her and I called out to her. I told her ‘Charity, your mother is very sick because of you. Let us go home’. She said: ‘Yes daddy, let me go and carry my things’. And as she made to free herself, the two captors held her down.”


“My daughter was crying when we saw her. They never allowed us speak with her. It is not true that the royal father invited me and the girl for talks, with the hope of reconciling us. On March 2, I came to the palace and was taken before the Etsu Nupe. The Etsu Nupe never asked the girl to go back home with me as claimed.

“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.”
On the case instituted in Sharia court, he said, “They claimed to have served me and I refused to come to the court when all they did was to bring a paper and said ‘sign, sign’, without explaining anything to me until they later said they were from the Sharia Court. Contrary to the principle of natural justice vis- a-vis fair hearing, I was not served either with the court summons/processes or hearing notice. The case was filed on March 4; the case was heard March 4 and judgment delivered on the same day. In fact, judgment was also executed on the same date.

The question is: why the urgency?
“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.”

Source = ThisDayLive