By TruthNigeria Staff
(Abuja) Mariamu Mathias, 27 and Cecilia Mathias,16, natives of Goge village in Fika County, Yobe State in troubled North East Nigeria, never imagined that March 29, 2024, would be the last time they would see each other.
Mariamu, 27, the elder sister to Cecilia, had hurried Cecilia to the local weekly Monday Market to sell bags of corn, a part-time trading venture that supported their living.
After commencing their day’s business, Mariamu asked Cecilia to return home and prepare for evening school. Obliging, Cecilia left for home unaware that it would be the last time her family would see her.
Cecilia as missing person
“Later that evening, when Mariamu returned home, she discovered that her younger sister, Cecilia, had not come back as instructed. A massive search for Cecilia was undertaken, but nothing concrete was found. The police in Damaturu, Headquarters of Yobe State was informed about the missing person.
After three weeks of searching, we gave up, Mariamu told TruthNigeria.”
Found in Muslim Cleric home
Three months later, Cecilia was discovered in the residence of an Islamic cleric, Sheik Usman Umar, who heads the Yobe State Islamic Council. Investigations by TruthNigeria revealed that Cecilia, 16, was abducted on her way back home from the market that fateful day. After her abduction, she was calmed down with assurances that she was in the right place. She was then subjected to intense Islamic indoctrination. After that, a “husband” was hurriedly found for her. He was a 55-year-old Muslim man named Mallam Umar Labi. Cecilia met him that day for the first time.
Muslim Cleric defends position
Fielding questions from Truth Nigeria by phone, Sheik Usman Umar said that Cecilia was brought to him after she willingly converted to Islam.
“She has willingly accepted Islam, and she is bound to be protected,” he said.
He denied that Cecilia has been married off to anyone.
All efforts by Mariamu and her father to get their daughter back proved abortive, as the Yobe Ministry of Islamic and Religious Affairs, Damaturu, is holding onto Cecilia.
“We have reported the issue to the Yobe State Commissioner of Police, and he has directed that my sister be returned to us, but those holding onto her have refused,” Mariamu said.
“As I speak to you, I have not seen or spoken to my sister in four months.”
The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigerian in Fika County, John Mamza, corroborated the story of Mariamu Mathias.
“Cecilia has been kidnapped and taken to Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, and currently is being held by the Yobe State Ministry of Religious Affairs in the home of Muslim Iman” John Mamza said.
“We are told that she has converted Islam and that she has chosen to remain with the Government people at the home of a Muslim Mullah, but we are working very hard to secure her release anytime from now,” said Mamza.
Married Christian women Not Spared
TruthNigeria has reported that Muslim groups have been abducting not only Christian minors but also married Christian women.
Emmanuel Bulus, a 45-year-old Divisional Police Officer from Kaduna State, who is serving in Sokoto State recounted the day his wife was abducted:
“On June 15, 2024, I left for the office while my wife was taking care of the children. When I returned, I couldn’t find my wife.”
Despite his efforts to locate her, including contacting her parents and relatives, he couldn’t find any information on her whereabouts.
“I had given up on her until a strange number called me, and when I picked up, it was my wife.”
His wife told him that she had converted to Islam and would only see him again if he did the same, Bulus said.
“My wife told me that she cannot see me again unless I become a Muslim,” he said.
Since then, two Islamic scholars have been calling for him to come to a mosque in Karu, a suburb of Abuja, (Nigerian Capital) but he refused, believing that it was a trap.
Fortunately, Rev. David Ayuba Azzaman of King Worship Centre International in Kaduna intervened, and with the help of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bulus’s wife was returned to him.
“I am grateful to Rev. Azzaman and CAN for their help in securing my wife’s release,” Bulus said.
Abduction of Christian women sponsored by powerful Muslims
This incident illustrates the growing concern of Christian women being abducted and forced to convert to Islam in Nigeria. They also get subjected to all kinds of abuses in the hands of Muslim extreme groups.
Furthermore, some state Governors allegedly have been involved in the forced conversion of Christians. Notably, the current chairman of the Nigerian ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, was caught on camera four years ago using his office to convert a young Christian girl to Islam in 2020 and then held captives until CAN stepped in.
Courageous Christians Clerics confront the scourge
Rev. David Ayuba Azzaman, an outspoken Kaduna-based outspoken pastor, spoke to TruthNigeria about the widespread kidnapping of underage Christian girls by Islamic organizations in Northern Nigeria. “In most cases, the organizations responsible for such dastardly acts are agencies or ministries of the states of Nigeria that practice Sharia law,” he said. “
Azzaman mentioned that a serving Senator in Bauchi South has instituted a fund to convert Christian girls to Islam by force.
“The serving Senator of Bauchi South Senatorial District had donated a huge amount of cash to Islamic clerics and organizations to prey on Christian girls from poor backgrounds, kidnap them, and forcibly convert them to Islam,” Azzaman said.
Azzaman also reported a recent incident in which he and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) intervened to secure the freedom of Esther Namba, a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped in Zaria County (Kaduna) and married off to a man twice her age.
“It is also happening in Zaria County of Kaduna State,” Azzaman said. “Only last week, CAN and I had to intervene and secure freedom for Esther Namba, a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped in Zaria and then married off to a man twice her age,” he added
Elder Benjamin Yusuf, prominent leader in ECWA Church Bauchi, North East Nigeria, told TruthNigeria about the abduction and forced conversion of three teenage girls to Islam in Bauchi between 2015 and 2016. The girls, Progress Jacob 13, Linda Christopher, 16 and Blessing Gopep 13, were later rescued.
“The girls were abducted in separate incidents,” according to Elder Yusuf. Linda Christopher, 16, was abducted on November 19, 2015, by Mallam Shagari in Tarsha Durumi village. Progress Jacob, 13, was abducted on January 3, 2016, by Mallam Musa in the Yelwa, Sabon Kaura area, while returning from church. Blessing Gopep, 13, was abducted in August 2015 by Iliya and Umaru in Alkaleri, Bauchi State.
“The parents reported the girls’ disappearance to the police, who investigated and found that the girls had been converted to Islam and were in the custody of the Bauchi State Shari’ah Commission,” Elder Yusuf said.
“The girls were forcibly converted to Islam, which contradicts claims that they had voluntarily embraced the religion,” Elder Yusuf emphasized.
Widespread Concerns Among Christians
There are growing concerns about the abduction of Christian girls and women in Northern Nigeria and their forced conversion to Islam. This disturbing trend has sparked widespread outrage and fear among Christian communities, who feel that their daughters and sisters are being targeted and coerced into abandoning their faith.
The Stefanos Foundation explored this threat through a ground-breaking seminar on July 23, 2024, focusing on the abduction of 16-year-old Godiya Musa in Kaduna. This disturbing trend has sparked widespread outrage and fear among Christian communities, who feel that their daughters and sisters are being targeted and coerced into abandoning their faith.
“If these trends are not halted, Northern Nigerian Christians may have to take extraordinary measures to stop the trend, Rev. Azzaman said to TruthNigeria.
