THE STORY AND  ORDEAL OF ESE      ORURU

How did you meet Yinusa?
We sell food in Bayelsa; so they, Yellow and his other people, used to come and buy food from us.

People say he is your boyfriend. Is this true?
No, he is not my boyfriend. Like I told you, we sell food in Bayelsa, and so, he used to come and buy food from us. He is not the only one; they are many and I used to play with all of them like my own brothers because they buy food from us. I sell food to them just like that.

Can you remember the day he took you from Bayelsa to Kano? How did it happen?
I don’t know.

Did he tell you that you were traveling to Kano?

                        No. We didn’t go with his Keke (tricycle). His keke, is at home. 

Did he come to the house to carry you?

                                                    No.

                                       So, how did you travel to Kano?
  I just followed him. I don’t know how I followed him.

People believe that you decided to run away with him because you love him and want to marry him at all cost.
I know that we used to play with all of them, our customers that come to buy food from our shop. There is nobody that is different. I sell food to all of them and I laugh with all of them.

So, you just started staying with him like that?
We travelled to Kura the next day with one man like that. He is the chief of the town. When we got there, they took me to one place and there they gave me hijab; they put it on me. And after that, they took me to one house in Kura. And from there on Monday, in the morning, we went back to the Emir’s Palace in Kano; then in the afternoon, we travelled back to Kura, to stay in the house.

What did you all go to do at the Emir’s Palace?
At the Emir’s Palace, they were asking him questions. They did not talk to me. They did not ask me anything, but they were asking him. Then they were speaking in Hausa language and I did not understand the language very well that time; so I didn’t understand what they were saying.

Was it at the Emir’s Palace that you first saw your mother?

Yes. I saw her, but I was not able to talk to her. I was just looking at her and she was crying. I just looked at her. I did not know her and I did not talk to her

But did they convert you to a Muslim?

                                                Yes.

How did that happen?
They took me to one place. Before they took me from the house to Kura, they put me in hijab, then we went to Kura. When we got there, they went to one place, and one old man came there and he would say something and they would say I should repeat. Then I would repeat. If the man said something again, they would say I should repeat and I would repeat just like that.

                                                 So, that was how you got converted?
                                                   Yes.

There is also this rumour that it was one old man       that actually married you and not Inuwa. Is this true?

I did not get married to anybody.

Did they give you any medicine?
Medicine? I don’t know. But if they put it in water or food… They used to give me something, but I don’t know if it is water they used to prepare it. But if I am not well, they would buy medicine for me and I would take. But it was not those types of native medicine. It was from the pharmacy.

Are you happy reuniting with your family?
                               Yes, I am happy to go back to my family.

How do you feel now?

                        I don’t know how I feel, but I just look calm. I don’t know what to do.

Do you regret what has happened to you?
                                                        Yes.

How?
I don’t know, but I have caused my mother a lot of trouble and put her into problem.

If you see Yinusa now, what would you tell him?

I don’t think she would do that, considering all the efforts she put to get you back home.
(Then the mother assured her that she would do no such thing, saying she was filled with gladness for seeing her alive).

What is your favourite subject in school?
Mathematics.

And what do you hope to become in future?
I hope to go back to school and become a nurse in the future.

 Your brother said you are a good Christian and member of the Scripture Union in your school and that you used to preach to people. Is this true?
(Smiles) Yes. Yes, I am in the SU, but they took it to the senior students and the senior students started misbehaving. So, we in the junior class took our own to a different level to sanitise the whole thing. We hold our fellowship in our class and go out for evangelism.

What is your advice to young girls like you out there, considering what you have gone through?

 They should be careful with the people they play with or talk with, because it’s not everybody that is good.
What is your appeal to your parents since you are afraid they are going to beat you?
I don’t know what to do. I am confused. I don’t know what really happened to me and I don’t even know where I am. But I know that she is my mother.

                       

               ESE ORURU'S MOTHER NARRATES HER ORDEAL

On August 12, being a Tuesday, after we took our breakfast, I went to the market, from where I went to visit one of my relations. By the time I returned home, one of my children was angry and complained that Ese, who went out in the morning had not returned and that she left the house at about 11 o’clock that fateful day. I asked him whether he beat her and he said no. I asked if they had a programme in church and he said no. At that point, I began to get worried and wondered where Ese must have gone.

Initially, I thought she had gone to church because they usually go to our neighbour’s church even though we are Anglicans, and I don’t stop them. I then asked him to go and check inside the house if she was sleeping and he did but came to say she was not there. From that point I decided to go and look for her myself.

As I was going, one of my daughters told me that they saw the carpenter lying in front of his shop since morning and that Yinusa, who usually came between 12 and 1pm to buy Banga soup from their buka had not shown up that day. At that point, I decided to go and ask the carpenter, for the telephone number of Yinusa and he told me Yinusa does not have a phone and that he usually come to beg him to use his phone to make calls. The carpenter asked me why I was looking for him and I told him that I wanted to charter his Keke, and with that I left his place and went to another shop that he usually patronise to ask for him.

When I got there, I asked the owner of the shop, who happens to be a Yoruba woman about Yinusa, and she told me he was not there but that his Keke, had been parked all day. She asked why I was looking for him and I told her I wanted to charter his Keke. After a second thought I decided to open up to her that I was looking for my daughter, Ese. She asked what Ese had to do with Yinusa, and I told her Yinusa had disappeared since morning and my daughter was nowhere to be found.

When I left her shop, I went to the mosque where the Hausa boys usually gather to look for Yinusa. They were praying. I decided to wait; I waited for about two hours and got tired and left. I later sent one of my children to go and call one of them. He saw one Mohammed and invited him to my place. I asked him about Yellow and he revealed that he had sold his Keke and travelled to Kano. He was the one who told me that Yinusa, took my daughter along with him and told him he was going to convert her to Islam and marry her.

I made arrangement for them to take me to Kano, but they said it would not be possible until they heard from Yinusa. Two days later, they called to confirm that he has arrived Kano and that we could travel the next day. The person who saw him and my daughter said he asked my daughter what she was doing in Kano, and he said she didn’t know that it was Yellow that brought her there. I then reported the matter to my husband and he got so angry and blamed the incident on my food business, which has caused and Hausa boy kidnapping his daughter. He said if not that I was selling food, the boy would not have had any access to the girl. My husband wanted to go and report the matter to the police that day but they begged him not to.

Before we embarked on the journey to Kano, we were told that the matter has been reported to the chief of the town and they asked me to look for N20, 000 for the trip. They said that N6,000 will take me to Kano, another N12, 000 will take me and my daughter back to Yenagoa, while we keep the remaining N2 ,000, for feeding and local runs. I got the money and embarked on the trip.

What happened in Kano?

When we arrived Kano, I had to spend the night in the house of the boy that took me there, because we arrived very late in the night at past 12 midnight. The next day, we proceeded on the search for Ese. Before we arrived Kano, I had received a call from my daughter, asking me where we were and I told her we were close to Abuja.

She advised me to stop at Abuja and spend the night with my sister, as according to her, they would kill me if I came to Kano that night. She said they had taken her photograph and converted her to Islam and wore her the hijab because the emir, Sanusi, promised them that anybody that brought a Christian girl from another state and converted her to Islam would be rewarded with money, given a house, jeep and earn a salary, among other goodies. She said all the people were celebrating with Yinusa. Still on our way, the man who was taking me to Kano got a call and told me it was Yinusa, but that I should not mind him.

In Kano, in the morning, I asked him to take me to the parent of Yellow, but he said we would first go to the house of the chief and that when we get there the chief would hand over my daughter and we would leave Kano the next day. When we got to the chief’s house, the boy narrated why he came with me and the chief was so angry and started abusing him. I knew he was abusing him because he spoke little English and Hausa. At that point, I got on my knees and pleaded with him to help me because my husband had driven me out of the house, asking me never to come back until I produced his daughter. He called me useless woman and asked which child did I keep here, that my child has been converted to Islam and I will never see her again.

While we were there, the other Hausa boys, who had stayed in Bayelsa, on hearing the matter, came there to meet me because I was good to them. They made inquiry on how we could get to the emir’s palace and the chief gave us two telephone numbers. When we got there, one of the soldiers on duty, in front of the palace, saw my desperation, as I was trying to call the telephone number given to us. He approached me and asked what I was doing there and after explaining to him, he took pity on me and said I cannot access the palace from the front gate, that I should go through the back, which I did. When I got inside, an elderly man walked to us and asked the boy that came with me if he was the one from Bayelsa, and he answered yes. He then asked why he brought me to Kano.

I knelt down to beg him to help me recover my child, that she was only 13. He said it was not possible and that even if I must see her, it had to be on Monday. Before I knew what was happening, young men started to gather in their large number. I started running. They came after me, hitting me and abusing me. They could have killed me. While all these was going on, one God-sent man drove into the palace and rescues me. He called the police and they sent one of their patrol vans to the scene immediately.

After rescuing me, they took me to the Kwani police station, close to the palace. I told them my story; they handed me over to the DCO of the station. At the office of the DCO, they took my statement and took it to the DPO. The DPO, on getting the report, then drafted some policemen to the palace. They did not allow us to enter and before we knew it, people started trooping in; so the policemen sensing danger put me back into the vehicle and drove off back to the police station.