CAN Exonerates Etsu Nupe Over Pastor's Daughter Conversion to Islam

The General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Rev. Dr. Musa Asake has stated that the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar’s role in the conversion of the daughter of pastor Raymond Uzoechina to Islam was misrepresented.

Asake’s position is coming after a closed door meeting convened by the Niger State Government with the Etsu Nupe, the lady Aisha’s (Charity), father, Pastor Raymond Uzochina and the General Secretary in attendance.

According to Asake, the meeting which lasted for about two hours brought to open the noble role of the Estu Nupe as against the previous versions.

He said “We have actually resolved the issue; there is a good understanding now especially as it concerns the person of respectable Etsu Nupe who has been misrepresented in the media”.

“It has been corrected hearing his testimony and the way we resolved the matter. I am so happy and CAN is in total support of the decisions which you will see in days to come” the CAN Secretary General said.

The CAN Secretary General asked why the father of the girl Pastor Uzoechina had severally accused the Royal Father; he said “it was so because the Royal Father has been the person in custody of the lady, so the parents have nobody to talk to but him, how did he get the custody of the lady we did not know but now we know, that is why”.

Also the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Hon. Ahmed Musa Ibeto who presided over the meeting told journalists after the meeting that it was resolved by all stakeholders that the order of a Sharia Court in Bida that gave the palace the custody of the lady who was afraid that the father might harm her would be vacated.

According to the Deputy Governor it is not the question of the conversion of the lady in question but reuniting her with her family in a way that she would be confident that the father would not harm her, which made her to go to court initially.

Ibeto reiterated that in Niger State religion is not a problem because there is harmonious religion relationship and peaceful coexistent of the adherents of the two major religions in the state.

“Unless the order is vacated nobody can take any decision, it is only if the order is vacated that she can decide on her own”, the Deputy Governor stated.

Meanwhile the counsel to Pastor Uzoechina who attended the meeting Barrister Femi Ikotun stated that the position is that the order should be vacated from Sharia Court in Bida, saying that “we have already applied for it to be vacated”.