Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A Jos-based law firm has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS) to intervene in the case of a 17-year-old Christian girl, Faith Barnabas, who remains in the custody of a Bauchi State government agency despite a Federal High Court order directing her immediate release to her mother. The petition, dated July 9, 2026, was filed by Wholesome Attorneys on behalf of Mrs. Kumabe Zakari, a widowed mother who has been separated from her daughter for more than four months in a case that has exposed the deepening crisis of forced religious conversions in northern Nigeria and the willingness of state institutions to defy judicial authority.
The controversy began in April 2026, when Faith Barnabas, an indigene of Billiri Local Government Area in Gombe State who resided with a guardian in Bauchi, went missing from her grandmother's residence shortly after completing her university entrance examinations. On April 20, the family received correspondence from the Bauchi State Shari'ah Commission indicating that the minor had converted to Islam and adopted the name "Sa'adatu". According to the lawyers, Faith was allegedly converted by one Sadiq Ahmed Hussaini, with the active involvement of the Bauchi State Shari'ah Commission, without the consent of her parent.
The legal representatives argue that the alleged conversion violated Section 8 of the Bauchi State Child Protection Law, 2023, which recognises the rights of parents over decisions concerning a minor's religion and welfare. Following the alleged conversion, Mrs. Zakari initially regained custody of her daughter and relocated with her to Jos. However, on April 30, the lawyers allege that Hussaini tracked the teenager to Jos and abducted her to an undisclosed location. Although the Bauchi State Police Command later located the suspect and recovered the teenager, the police allegedly transferred Faith to the custody of the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children Agency (BASOVCA) instead of releasing her to her mother.
The lawyers further alleged that while Hussaini is standing trial before a Principal District Court in Bauchi on charges bordering on conspiracy and abduction, he was allegedly granted access to the teenager while her mother and relatives were denied similar access. When BASOVCA allegedly failed to comply with an interim order issued by the Principal District Court directing the release of Faith to her mother, Mrs. Zakari instituted a fundamental rights enforcement suit before the Federal High Court in Jos.
On July 6, 2026, the Federal High Court, Jos Judicial Division, delivered judgment in favour of the mother and ordered the immediate release of Faith Barnabas to her widowed mother. The court declared the arrest and continued detention of the minor illegal and unconstitutional. However, as of August 12, the order had not been obeyed. The Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN), Billiri Local Government Area Chapter, condemned what it described as the continued disregard for the authority of the court, describing the situation as "a direct violation of the rule of law and contempt of court".
In their petition to the DSS, Wholesome Attorneys expressed concern over what they described as a pattern of disobedience to court orders and appealed to the security agency to intervene by ensuring compliance with the Federal High Court judgment and facilitating the immediate reunification of Faith Barnabas with her mother, who they said has suffered severe emotional trauma since the incident. The lawyers argued that Faith remains unlawfully held at BASOVCA despite subsisting court orders directing that she be reunited with her family.
YOWICAN has also demanded immediate compliance with the court judgment, enforcement by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police, initiation of contempt proceedings against defaulting officials, and the nullification of all administrative actions purporting to change the minor's religion and name. The Christian youth body has called on the federal government, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), diplomatic missions and UN agencies to intervene, warning that failure to release Faith undermines democracy, judicial independence, and child protection in Nigeria. YOWICAN also cited Nigeria's obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ICCPR and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and linked the case to a broader pattern flagged by UN Special Rapporteurs in a June 8 communication to the Nigerian Government on alleged abductions and forced conversions of Christian minors in northern Nigeria.
The case of Faith Barnabas has drawn attention to what human rights organisations describe as a disturbing trend of forced conversions of minors in northern Nigeria. Christian leaders in Bauchi State have highlighted the troubling issue of persecution and called for urgent action to hold accountable those responsible for using harmful methods to forcibly convert dozens of underage girls in the state to Islam. In the first two months of 2026 alone, no fewer than 200 Christian girls were rescued from alleged forceful conversion to Islam in Bauchi State.
For Mrs. Kumabe Zakari, the past four months have been a nightmare of separation from her daughter, compounded by the state's refusal to obey a court order that should have ended her ordeal. Her legal representatives have now turned to the DSS, Nigeria's premier security agency, to enforce the judgment and bring her daughter home. Whether the DSS will act, and whether the Bauchi State Government will finally comply with the Federal High Court's order, remains to be seen. But the question that now hangs over this case is whether Nigeria's institutions are willing to protect a Christian minor's right to religious freedom and family life, or whether the state will continue to defy the courts and allow the forcible conversion of children to go unchecked.
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