Children Seized from Nigerian Orphanage Forced to Study Qur’an, Attend a Mosque

CSW, which has been following up on Tarfa’s case, reports that a second court hearing of the case to secure the return of the 16 children had been adjourned on Thursday, August 24.

The first hearing of the case filed by Tarfa and his wife Mrs. Mercy Tarfa for the return of the children to their care was deferred on July 18 after the lawyer representing the Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which currently has custody of the children, failed to attend the proceedings, CSW says, adding that the case was transferred to a vacation judge, as the presiding judge was due to begin annual leave.

In June 2021, Prof. Tarfa was reportedly acquitted of abducting children from their legal guardians and confining them in an unregistered orphanage.

However, on 3 March 2022, he was convicted on a forgery charge submitted by the prosecution lawyer during that trial a day before resting his case, CSW reports, adding that the Prof. was eventually acquitted and discharged by an appeal court on 27 January 2023.

“However, the children have still not been returned to the Tarfas’ custody,” the UK-based entity notes.

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CSW’s Founder President, Mervyn Thomas, has decried the lengthy court process, saying that the deferrals are prolonging the suffering of the children at the center of the case.

“Once again adjournments and deferrals are delaying justice for the Tarfas and prolonging the suffering of children who have been separated for almost four years from the only parents most of them have ever known,” Mr. Mervyn says in the August 25 report.

He adds, “We reiterate that the children should have been returned to the Tarfas’ care as soon as the professor was acquitted of the child abduction charge, and the authorities’ continued failure to acknowledge and facilitate this in a timely manner only adds to the injustices this family has endured.”

“Reparations must be made, and the next hearing must result in the return of the remaining 16 children without further delay,” the CSW official says.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.