#UntilWeKnowThis: Ese’s abduction, criminal, not a religious act – Soyinka, Falana

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, on Sunday, berated individuals attempting to use religion to justify the abduction of 14-year-old Ese Oruru.

The duo, at a press conference in Lagos, said the matter was purely criminal and not religious, adding that the perpetrator should be prosecuted so the victim could get justice.

Ese was abducted by Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, a regular customer at her mother’s food shop, last year August in Opolo, Bayelsa State, and taken to Kano without the knowledge of the teen’s parents, and forced into child marriage, having been converted to Islam.

Soyinka specifically faulted the Director, Muslim Rights Concern and Professor of Islamic Eschatology, Ishaq Akintola, who had claimed in a newspaper publication on Sunday that Islam had no age barrier for marriage.

The Nobel laureate, however, said, “Culture is not static; it is dynamic and evolves. It is of humanity. There is no culture without human beings. If you say you are religious, there are others who could come to say they are holier than you are. We should take religion out of Ese’s abduction. We are talking about criminality.

“Nobody should say people are Islam-phobic. We are only against criminality. Who invokes religion in criminal matters? Who brings religion into issues of government and constitution? If you want to bring religion into a criminal matter, then, let us talk about other things. When we are talking about crime, don’t diffuse it with religion.”

The revered playwright also said Akintola, like others hiding the case under religion, should desist from using literature to justify their claims, noting that the don likened the matter to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Soyinka added, “Did Shakespeare tell you that a court wants to grab Romeo and prosecute him? People bring their own intelligence into matters and think others are fools. Don’t quote Shakespeare when we are discussing criminality.

“The welfare of a child is more important than the money stolen. If you steal money, you commit crime against society but when you force a child into marriage, you have ruined her for life. When criminality is in the public domain, it becomes everybody’s business.”

According to him, society failed Ese and government must protect other underage female from child marriages like the one conducted with a teenager by a former governor and now a Senator.

“Until we make an example of people like Yerima (Senator Ahmed), there will be thousands of Yunusa,” he stated.

Soyinka argued that the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi did what was right when the case of Ese was initially brought to his (emir’s) attention.

“The emir represents a modern traditional ruler who will help transform the primitive chiefs in power. If I am proved wrong, I will come back and apologise,” he stated.

Falana, on his part, said Yunusa did not only violate Ese’s rights to religion as enshrined in Section 38 of the Constitution, but also broke the laws contained in the Child Rights Act which Nigeria is a signatory.

The SAN added that the likes of Yerima and Akintola would not allow their teenage daughters to go into child marriage.

Falana said, “Attempt to bring religion into the matter is sheer hypocrisy. People like Akintola are playing on the intelligence of the poor. “

Besides, the two speakers also called on the Nigerian Army Council to allow justice reign in the case of Brid.-Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti, by reversing his demotion to a colonel.