Re: ASD’s detention was crass impunity

I write in respect of the above titled editorial, which appeared in the Daily Trust on Sunday, November 17, 2019, and will like to make the following clarifications. I first learnt about the drama that has continued to unfold between ASD, his daughter Nasiba, her new husband, Kaloma and the Judge of the Sharia Court Magajin Gari, all on the one hand and Nasiba ex-husband Abubakar and the Inspector General of Police on the other, a few days ago after reading about it in the papers.

The information I read as contained in the papers, including the said editorial, fueled my curiosity and I decided to find out a little more about the real issue or issues of controversy between the parties. What I found was mind-boggling.

Sometime in 2016, Abubakar Musa Abubakar got married to Nasiba after which she moved to Abuja to join her new husband.

It would seem that the marriage like every other marriage had its fair share of problems. While I cannot confirm this, it is said that Abubakar molested Nasiba and put her through both emotional and physical trauma. Nasiba eventually had enough of him and decided she wanted out. She hence left their matrimonial home for Kaduna where she filed a divorce case against Abubakar before the Sharia Court T/Wada, Kaduna.

The Alkali upon hearing her complaint and being satisfied that the divorce be ordered, pronounced judgment in her favour and ordered and ruled that she refunded the dowry of N50,000 paid by Abubakar. He also ordered that she be allowed to return to the home she shared with Abubakar while the marriage subsisted to pick up her belongings.

My investigations revealed that Nasiba did pay the N50,000 to the court.  She eventually went to Abuja to retrieve her belongings only to be brutalized by Abubakar who refused her entry into the house. What I find very difficult to understand, however, is the fact that in the over one year and about 10 or so months since Nasiba got the divorce from her ex-husband Abubakar is said to have never called her or even attempted to reach out to his in-laws in any way. Upon making this discovery, I wondered to myself what kind of man will continue to insist almost two years after his wife divorced him that he is still married to her without even attempting to reach out to her even on one occasion during the entire period to try and win her back.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, after the order for divorce by the Sharia Court Tudun Wada, Abubakar proceeded to the Upper Sharia Court Kawo where he filed an appeal against the judgment.

He also somehow got the court to make an interlocutory order, staying execution of the judgment of the T/Wada Court pending the appeal.

While I’m not a lawyer, I have some good knowledge of legal matters and I know as a fact that a court can’t grant an order for interlocutory injunction on the same day the order is sought because the other party must be served with the papers asking for the order so they can respond before the court takes a position on it. This usually takes at least 2 weeks or so.

Abubakar’s lawyers were, however, able to achieve the feat of getting the order on the same day that the judgment was given to Nasiba by the T/Wada court.

Apparently, Nasiba’s lawyers were not pleased with the circumstances that made it possible for Abubakar to get the order staying execution of the judgment of the T/wada court so they petitioned the Grand Kadi in respect of the matter.

Meanwhile, the judge of the Upper Sharia Court, knowing that a petition in the form of an application for judicial review was pending against his management of the case, went ahead nonetheless to hear the appeal and decide it this time in Abubakar’s favour.

The judgment of the Upper Sharia Court Kawo was however short-lived because the Grand Kadi upon considering the petition by Nasiba’s lawyers, quashed the judgment.

With the judgment of the Kawo Court quashed, Nasiba decided to get married to Kaloma and received her father’s blessing.

The marriage took place on the 9th of November 2019 more than a year and 10 months after her divorce from Abubakar.

And remember, I said already that Abubakar have not for once try to reach out to her to make peace.

Immediately he learnt that she was getting married, he sent someone to disrupt the event and thereafter used his friend, the Inspector General of Police, to begin harassing ASD and his family.

He even had the poor man locked up. His offence; allowing his daughter to get married.

I have asked myself 100 times over, what is Abubakar after? Even a blind person can see from the facts that he is not interested in the marriage with Nasiba.

I doubt that anyone interested in marrying or continuing in a marriage with a lady will truly believe that the best way to show that is to abandon her completely for about two years and then reappear to send her father to jail while trying to see that she is also arrested and jailed.

This whole story is made heartbreaking because of the extent of the involvement in it by the Inspector General of Police and the use of the position of the Inspector General of Police to harass ASD and his family.

After my investigation into this matter, I can safely say that whatever it is that Abubakar and his good friend the Inspector General of Police are looking for cannot be found legitimately within lawful channels because the marriage has been dissolved between Abubakar and Nasiba.

But who knows, power answers every question in Nigeria and the Inspector General has shown he is willing to use his power to any extent even if he has to break the law to satisfy his friends.

In any case, ASD and his family members who are currently being harassed by the Inspector General of Police have gone to court to ask for their rights to be enforced.

We will continue to watch as the story unfolds.

Mohammed Awal Ibrahim, Kaduna