By Segun Babatunde Awofadeji in Bauchi
Investigation has revealed that a petition was sent to DSS office in Bauchi by A Jos- based law firm, Wholesome Attorneys, has written a petition to the Directorate of State Security (DSS) seeking its intervention over alleged detention of a 17-year-old girl by the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children Agency (BASOVCA), reports thegazellenews.com
Thegazellenews.com reports further that the petition was written on behalf of the mother of the alleged victim, Kumabe Zakari.
The petition, thegazellenews.com gathered, sought the intervention of the DSS to the detained teenager, Faith Barnabas based on a court order which had directed the agency to release the girl.
However, this medium learnt exclusively that the DSS might not act on the petition for now because the copy of the court order was not attached to the petition.
According to the law firm, the teenager was allegedly forcefully converted to Islam by one Sadiq Ahmed Hussaini with the active involvement of the Bauchi State Shari’ah Commission without the consent of her parent.
The lawyers further alleged that Faith is being unlawfully held at the BASOVCA despite subsisting court orders directing that she be reunited with her family.
However, checks with BASOVCA confirmed that the girl was brought to them for safe keeping, by the Social Welfare Services Office in conjunction with the Bauchi State Sharia Commission over waywardness. As such, Faith was never taken by the DSS, rather, her family is only seeking the assistance of DSS on the matter.
However, Public Affairs commentators have described a news medium (Not thegazellenews) with a headline “Lawyers Ask DSS To Free 17- Year Old Christian Girl ‘Forcibly Converted’ To Islam In Bauchi”, as “very unprofessional”.
They described the headline by the medium as “Not responsible journalism”.
According to them “a headline should accurately fit or reflect the substance of the story being addressed and should not be cut off from the body of the news”.
