We will shut down Nigeria if any Christian girl is abducted again —CAN Youth Leader

National youth leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr Daniel Kadzai, has threatened to mobilise all the youth to shut down the country if any Christian daughter was abducted and forced into marriage again.

Kadzai, who spoke with TribuneChurch, lamented that it was sad that the ancient practice of bride abduction of teenage girls for forceful marriage still existed in the country.

He narrated the story of 13-year-old Hauwa Dadi, who was allegedly abducted, forced into marriage and hidden in the palace of the Emir of Gashua, Abubakar Umar, without the consent of any of the parents who had sent her on an errand.

According to him, “Hauwa, a senior secondary school teenager, and a daughter of a pastor and former official of CAN in Yobe State, was abducted when she went out with her twin brother on an errand for her mum, who is nursing her sick father.

“You can imagine the trauma he went through when he heard the sad news. The wife told us that his sickness worsened before the good news that the governor had stepped in.”

Kadzai expressed gratitude to Governor Gaidam of Yobe State, who intervened to ensure that Hauwa was released, warned that CAN would no longer tolerate such dangerous practices.

“We have been looking helplessly at the atrocities committed by these people for a long time and keeping quiet because of the nature of our faith. However, if they repeat this wrong again, we will not take kindly to it. We want those conniving in some palaces in Yobe, Borno, Katsina and other states to stop,” he said.