Ese Oruru: Emir of Kano and those distorting the narrative, by Femi Fani-Kayode

All those that are attempting to distort the narrative about the tragic plight of Miss Ese Oruru are evil and we commit them to God’s judgement. The facts are as follows. She is 14 years old and not 18 and she was abducted from her home. She did not leave her home freely or of her own volition. She was cruelly and wickedly carried away and stolen from her parents, family and loved ones and forcefully taken by complete strangers to a distant land. This was a land that she had never seen or been before and which was on the other side of the country.


The truth is that this is not a love story about two inseparable young people: it is rather a sad and tragic tale about pedophilia, child abduction, kidnapping, human trafficking, slavery, rape, impunity, wickedness, religious bigotry and ritual sex. Worse still it is an unfolding drama at the end of which Emir Sanusi Lamido may well have a case to answer. The truth is that that little girl would have been raped over and over again and she may well have Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) or some other strange sexual disease by now. She may also be pregnant. Instead of sympathizing with her and considering the fact that she may never be the same again in view of the physical and mental torture and trauma that she has been subjected to over the last few months, some misguided souls and shameless commentators have the temerity to come to social media and say that she was old enough to “get it” whilst others say that she ”loved it” and ”wanted it”. I am utterly disgusted and appalled by these sentiments. Where is the humanity of those that speak and think like this? Where is their compassion and where is their soul? May God judge them and may their own infant daughters be abducted, forcefully Islamised, raped, enslaved and kept against their will as a sex slave in an Emir’s palace in the same way that Ese was. Meanwhile I just watched an AIT video in which Ese’s mother claimed that her daughters abductors said that it was the Emir of Kano himself that ordered her daughters abduction and that she was kept in his palace for over one year for his pleasure. If this is true it confirms the suspicion that the Emir is culpable. Again if what she has said is true it also proves that the Emir is not only a praticing pedophile but also a very sick man who must be held accountable. It is important that Emir Sanusi clears the air and tells us precisely what he did with this little girl otherwise we are entitled to assume the worse and believe what Ese’s mother has told us. Quite apart from that we are compelled to ask whether this sort of thing has happened before and how widespread it is? How many other little girls have been stolen from their homes and forced to join harems all over the nation? The famous high society blogger and respected celebrity Miss Linda Ikeji has just exposed yet another case. This time it is a young 17 year old christian girl, by the name of Miss Patience Paul, who has been abducted from her home, parents and loved ones in Benue state, forcefully taken to Sokoto, locked up in the Sultan’s palace and kept there against her will. The same thing happened to a 13 year old christian igbo girl by the name of Miss Charity Uzoechina two years ago when she was abducted, islamised, raped, married off and forced to remain in the Etsu Nupe’s palace in Minna, Niger state. This was despite the fact that her parents went to the police and authorities and made every effort to get her back. Sadly up till today they have never seen her again. Evidently we live in a strange country where evil is swept under the carpet and often justified. We live in a country where those that expose such abominations and speak truth are demonised, hated, despised and, more often than not, threatened with violence, persecution, intimidation, arrest, spurious criminal investigations and baseless civil court actions. More often than not this is the price for speaking truth and exposing the evil in Nigeria. There is clearly a conspiracy of silence about the perpetuation of evil in this country amongst the ruling elite. The feeling is that anyone can get away with anything providing they belong to a particular circle and class and providing they have money and power. And it is because they have money and power and they have powerful friends in government and in the political class that they feel that they can kill, silence, crush, abduct, cripple, ruin, sue and jail anybody that tests their will and crosses their path or that exposes the truth about their blood-chilling and perverse ways. That is the reality of Nigeria and it is a sad and sorry one. All I can say is thank God for the media and particularly for the Punch newspaper who started the ball rolling last Sunday. If not for their cover story about Ese with all those pictures on their front page the little girl would not be free and on her way home to her family today. Instead she would have still been in slavery and captivity at the Emir of Kano’s palace. We should also thank the Nation newspaper particularly for their timely editorial on this issue which was published on 1st March and which raised some pertinent questions and offered wise counsel about the way forward. The Punch, the Nation, AIT, Channels, Tribune, the Sun, Vanguard, Thisday and all the other newspaper titles and television stations in the Nigerian media and social media has done what no-one else or no other group could do. Not even the Federal Government, the various state governments, the political parties, the politicians, the security agencies, the lawyers or the so-called human rights groups could do what they managed to do or achieve what they have achieved. They have helped to secure the freedom of a helpless and defenseless little girl from slavery, torment, humiliation, destruction, death, disease and bondage and they have brought her home safely to her parents. We need more of this. Kudos to them and God bless them all. And may God damn and shame those that chose to remain silent and look the other way.