A Shari’ah Court sitting in Tudun Wada, Sokoto South Local Government Area, has issued a bench warrant against the Commander of Sokoto Hisbah Commission and the commission’s judge for allegedly refusing to honour its invitation.
The duo were summoned to answer charges bordering on marital issues, child custody, defamation of character and unlawful detention among others.
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Caliphate Trust learnt that the charges followed separate cases filed by Hadiza Abubakar and Habibu Bawa.
Hadiza, a divorcee, had accused the Commander and the Commission’s judge of handing over the custody of her child, who is below two years to his father which is contrary to Shari’ah law.
She also accused them of detaining her for a week without recourse to her fundamental rights as well as defaming her.
Speaking to Caliphate Trust Halima said the issue started after a misunderstanding between her and her husband.
“My husband went and complained to them because I refused to go back to his house after having a quarrel with his first wife.
“They invited me to their office and after their failed attempt to reconcile us, they suggested a divorce which my husband obliged.
“However, they continued to detained me in their office for five days and this worried my ex-husband who went and brought my father from the village to bail me out but they refused to release me saying that the case was not concluded and my child was sick.
“The Commander promised my father that they would take me back to them as soon as the case was over and my child recovered and after my father left, they took me to the house of one woman at Gobirawa area who was cooking food for me to sell and started introducing me to men, which made me to ran away.
“After some times, they arrested me again, detained me for two days before collecting my little baby and handed him over to his father who gave them N40,000 in return. N30,000 of the money was to compensate me for taking care of his child for over one year.
“I refused to collect the money because the child is not matured enough to be given to his father because he is below two years,” she said
On his part, Bawa, told our correspondent that he was illegally detained and forced to divorce his wife.
“They called me to their office over a complaint filed by my in-laws that I was wrongly accusing their daughter of having extra-marital affairs and insisted they wanted a divorce.
“So the Commission’s judge asked them to pay me the sum of N30, 000 which I am not comfortable with and resolved to take the matter to court,” he said
Bawa further alleged the commission had once detained him over a false accusation which he was later cleared of.
When contacted, the Commander, Dr. Adamu Bello Kasarawa confirmed the arrest warrant in their respect but that they had taken the matter to a superior judicial officer for his intervention because due process was not followed.
He however, accused the presiding judge of trying to settle a score with them following their victories over him when he was into a private practices.
However, the judge, Ibrahim Rufa’i in a phone interview with Caliphate Trust dismissed their claim, saying he was the one who assisted them in their cases at that time.
The judge, further explained that the arrest warrant was issued due to the failure of the Commander and his staff to appear before the court despite being summoned twice to answer some charges against them.
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