US-based lawyer demands release of Christian orphans, remains of boy who died in Kano custody

United States-based Nigerian lawyer and human rights advocate, Emmanuel Ogebe, has accused the Kano State Government of continuing to hold seven Christian orphans and refusing to release the body of a 13-year-old boy who died while in state custody.

Ogebe made the allegation during an interview on Inside Sources monitored by The Eagle Online.

He said the seven children were among 27 Christian orphans taken from a Christian orphanage and transferred to a Kano State orphanage, where, according to him, their names were changed to Muslim names and they were converted to Islam.

Ogebe said efforts by his team and the United States Embassy had secured the release of some of the children, but seven remain in Kano.

According to him: “There were seven orphans who were part of 27 that were taken from a Christian orphanage, put into a Kano State orphanage.

“Their names were changed to Muslim names and they were converted.

“We have been on their case. Even the U.S. Embassy sent somebody to Kano to sit down with them and managed to release some of them, but we still have seven remaining.”

The lawyer disclosed that one of the children, identified as David Tafai, died in Kano State custody in January.

He said repeated appeals for the release of the teenager’s body had been ignored.

“We have pleaded with the state government, return the corpse. They say they want to bury him as a Muslim. We said that is not acceptable.

“Then they stopped the burial as a Muslim. Okay, release the body. Let us bury him and release the other children. Till this day, they have not.”

Ogebe questioned why the body had remained in government custody months after the boy’s death.

He further alleged that David Tafai was born to Christian parents, with his mother originating from Southern Kaduna, and said the child’s continued detention and death raised serious human rights concerns.

The human rights advocate also urged the Kano State Government to release the remaining children, arguing that they should be allowed to remain in the Christian faith of their parents until they are old enough to make their own religious choices.

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖