The National Council of Islamic Scholars, under the aegis of Majlis Atta’awun, Kano State branch, has called for the prosecution of abductors of nine Muslim children from Kano allegedly sold in Anambra and converted to Christianity.
Its Chairman, Sheik Abba Adam-Koki, said their prosecution was necessary to maintain sanity and peace.
“It is a fact that the crime of child trafficking is synonymous with slavery. This is because they both involved the acquisition and movement of persons across local, regional and international borders for exploitation means, which is usually without the consent of the victim,” he said.
Adam-Koki also urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to check the ugly trend in the interest of peace and unity.
He noted the abduction of the nine children was against the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Chapter 4 of Nigerian Constitution on fundamental right to life, dignity of human persons, personal liberty, fair hearing, among others.
“The crime of child trafficking and forceful conversion to another faith is also condemned and proscribed by our laws. We, therefore, ask the authorities to prosecute the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.
Adam-Koki appealed to the public not to allow emotions to becloud their judgement as not all Christians were involved in this criminal behaviour.
“Many adherents of Christianity are decent and peace loving. Such Christians will never descend so low as to seize, convert and sell Muslim children,” he said.