Another 14-year-old girl kidnapped, now in sultan’s palace

Just as 14-year-old Ese Oruru was regaining her freedom from her abductors in Kano, news has filtered out that another girl, Patience Paul Idaji, 14, had also been kidnapped and now held in Sultan’s palace.

Patience, a primary six pupil of Mohammed Zako Model Primary school, Sokoto, was alleged to have been kidnapped by two of their neighbours and allegedly taken to the Sultan’s palace.

Patience’s elder brother, Paul Isaac Idaji,28, eldest among nine kids, an indigene of Ochobo in Ohimini Local Government area of Benue State, said that Patience had been missing since August 12, 2015.

Incidentally, August 2015, was also the month Ese Oruru was abducted by Yinusa and taken to Kano.

Paul said: “We got information that she was in the Sultan’s palace and the last time we went there we did not find her there.”

He said that some people told them that they saw Patience at the Sultan’s palace. He alleged that other girls, like patience, were camped in the palace.

One of those Paul alleged to have abducted Patience,

Umar Dauda Gada, said he and other members of the Hisbah were going to take legal action again Paul. According to him, they didn’t even know of any Patience, let alone to have abducted her.

Speaking further, Paul said: “We went there to see if she had been taken there. Even her friend who used to be a Christian was found there. She was taken there and they converted her. We’ll continue to search for her. We’ll not give up. We want the world to help us so that Patience can be released to us.”

Paul further explained: “She was abducted by two of our neighbours. We went there after people saw her. But as of last week, she was no longer there. Police tried to investigate, but along the line, they backed off. My parents had been running around over the matter. Police even arrested the men. They testified. It was first reported at Cony police division. The last time we went to the Sultan’s palace, to ask about her, it was a different girl they brought out for us. It’s possible they may have moved her to another location. I went to school and my dad went to work. I returned from school and heard she had disappeared.”

Paul has promised to furnish New Telegraph with petition written to police after abduction of Patience.

Apparently determined to locate his missing sister at all cost, Paul posted an SOS on Facebook.

Gada said: “ It’s a false allegation. It came to my notice on Tuesday evening. We are staff of Sokoto State Hisbah Commission. It’s not a nongovernmental organization. It’s a state law enforcement agency. We shall our name on social media that we kidnapped a girl called Patience Paul and took her to Sultan’s palace.”

He said they had taken steps to investigate and discovered that there was no  Patience Paul in the Sultan’s palace. He further said that Hisbah and the state government even had a meeting over the matter yesterday.

He added: “Whoever posted that, was trying to tarnish the image of Islam, Hisbah, Sokoto State and the Sultan. We can’t fold our hands over this. It’s a serious allegation. Someone just sat down and fabricated this.”