A Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Balyesa State has sentenced Yunusa Dahiru to 26 years imprisonment over the abduction of a teenage girl, Ese Oruru in 2015.
The kidnap of the then 13-year-old Oruru and her forced conversion to Islam sparked a national outrage in 2015.
Miss Oruru who is from Bayelsa was allegedly abducted into forced marriage in Kano.
The teenager is the youngest child of Charles Oruru and Rose Oruru.
Her abduction took place at her mother’s shop on August 12, 2015, in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Miss Oruru was abducted by Yunusa Dahiru, and taken to Kano, where she was supposedly assaulted, coercively converted to Islam and married off without her parents’ consent.
On February 29, 2016, she was reportedly rescued by the police in Kano State and put within the care of the government. She was later revealed to be five months pregnant with her abductor’s child after being released.
Miss Oruru’s abduction drew condemnation, including from a human rights lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, who called the incident a “clear case of child trafficking” and “a worse form of corruption.”
The Kano State government, through its data gathered, youths and sports commissioner, Mohammed Garba, denied any involvement and demanded the guilty party be arraigned since the Constitution and Islamic teaching abhor abduction and forced marriage.
On March 8, 2016, Dahiru was arraigned and charged with abduction, kidnapping, illegal carnal information and sexual exploitation by the police.
Dahiru, also known as Yellow, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges, was granted bail to the tune of N3 million and two sureties.
Administering judgement in the trial on Thursday, Justice Jane Inyang sentenced Dahiru to 26 years in prison.
Justice Inyang acquitted Miss Oruru’s abductor on count one but jailed him five years on (count two), seven years (count three) seven years (count four) and seven years on count five. According to the judge, the sentences are to run concurrently.
