Abduction: Christian Parents Cry Out as Bauchi Sharia’h Commission Holds 4 Plateau Girls Over Alleged Conversion
- Families in Zallaki, Bassa LGA, allege that their daughters, three minors and a 23-year-old married mother of three, were lured to Bauchi and converted without parental consent
Our Correspondent
For Mrs. Useini (not real name), a widow and mother of two of the girls, and for the families of Mercy and Patience (not real names), Saturday, October 3, 2026 will remain one of the worst days of their lives.
It was the day they were handed letters from the Bauchi State Sharia’h Commission informing them that their daughters had converted to Islam.
As at the time of filing this report, the four girls, all Christians from Zallaki community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, are in the custody of the Da’awah Council in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, according to the Commission.
The girls are 13, 15, 15 and 23 years old, and the mother of three children whose family is in Plateau State.
According to family accounts, the girls were allegedly lured from Zallaki by two young men who conspired with a middle-aged woman residing in Bigura, Toro LGA.
In a telephone interview with Today’s Challenge, a community leader and an uncle to two of the girls, Mr. Musa (not real name), said the paramount ruler first brought the incident to his attention.
He narrated that the boys first took three of the girls to a woman in a village called Bigura in Toro LGA, who allegedly tried to convince them using her phone, telling them that if they convert to Islam, they will be better off.
Two of the girls allegedly accepted the offer, while the 13-year-old initially refused and returned home after two days.
Her mother questioned her, and she said she still wanted to continue schooling.
The community leader said on Monday, Mary (not real name) went to school and returned complaining that her school fees had not been paid.
On that same Monday, she left with her elder sister (Alice, not real name) to join the first two already with the woman, bringing the total to four.
From Bigura, they moved to Gwalfada village in Toro LGA, where they were allegedly converted before the Da’awah Council handed them over.
It was the Da’awah Council that then wrote to the parents through the Bauchi State Sharia’h Commission.
Parents say they only got to know the whereabouts of their missing daughters when four separate letters were delivered to them on Saturday.
This magazine obtained copies of the letters with reference number BAS/SC/NCTI/065/VOL.1 dated 29/09/2026 and signed by Muh’d Hadi Aliyu, Acting Director, Da’awah and Islamic Education Department, for the Chairman, Bauchi State Sharia Commission.
One of the letters addressed to the parents and titled “To Whom It May Concern” reads in part: “The bearer (name withheld) brought herself before the Shari’ah Commission through Da’awah Council Committee members (NGO) reporting her CONVERSION TO ISLAM willingly…”
Similar letters were issued for the other three girls stating that they had willingly accepted Islam and that the Commission has handed their custody to the Da’awah Council Bauchi pending the time things are sorted out with their parents.
Following the receipt of the letters, the paramount ruler of the community contacted Mr. Musa to intervene.
A meeting was arranged at the Sharia Commission in Bauchi on Wednesday, October 7.
Mr. Musa said the village head of Gwalfada initially denied knowledge of the incident but later confirmed that the person who delivered the letters to the parents is from Gwalfada and a member of the Da’awah.
When contacted, Musa said the Da’awah member allegedly admitted that the girls came to him and told him that they wanted to convert to Islam and that their parents were aware and had given consent, and they went ahead to convert them.
At the meeting at the Commission, Musa revealed that the girls were brought and asked for their opinion in the presence of their parents.
According to him, they insisted that they had converted and that nothing would take them back home.
He told this magazine that an attempt was made to persuade the girls to at least return home to practice close to their parents, but they rejected the offer.
Mr. Musa said that the meeting ended in a deadlock after the widowed mother of the two sisters, in anguish, confronted her daughters over their decision.
The families insist the girls were lured and deceived and that the claim of willing conversion cannot stand, particularly for a 13-year-old minor who under the Child’s Rights Act cannot give valid consent, and for a 23-year-old married woman with three children.
“A 13-year-old girl cannot decide on her own. What does she know? It is not their wish. Those boys are after them. It was deception they used to lure them,” Musa said.
According to Musa, the court has reportedly directed that the matter be transferred to Jos and that lawyers be contacted.
Recall that this magazine in its March/April 2026 edition reported that from January to February 2026, no fewer than 200 Christian girls were allegedly rescued from forced conversion to Islam in Bauchi State.
As at press time, efforts to get an official response from the Bauchi State Sharia’h Commission were ongoing.
The four girls remain in the custody of the Da’awah Council in Toro LGA, Bauchi State, pending resolution.
Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
The Child’s Rights Act, domesticated in Plateau State, provides that a child below 18 cannot give valid consent on such matters.
Legal experts say any conversion of a minor without parental consent, and holding persons against their parents’ wishes, raises issues of abduction and child rights violations, which security agencies should investigate.
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