The family of a 17-year-old student has petitioned the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, accusing the Kano State Hisbah Board of facilitating her forced conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage.
In a formal complaint dated 6 May 2026, the family of Jinkai Simon—originally from Pankshin LGA of Plateau State—said their daughter disappeared on 9 March 2026 after leaving her home in Zaria for school. She had been residing with her elder sister, Jennifer Simon, in the Kuregu area of Zaria, Kaduna State.
According to the petition, submitted through the family’s legal counsel, Jinkai was last seen with a neighbour, Ruqaiya, also of Kuregu. Ruqaiya later informed the family that the teenager had been converted to Islam and taken to Kano, where she was handed over to the Kano State Hisbah Board.
The family further alleges that the board changed the girl’s name and age, then married her off. The petition states: “The Hisbah Board changed her name from Jinkai Yusuf to Aisha Sani and married her off to one Abdulsamad. She now goes by the name Aisha Abdulsamad.”
Documents attached to the complaint indicate that the girl was taken to a Kano State High Court, where she swore an affidavit claiming to be 19 years old. Her parents accuse the board of forging consent documents, adding: “No person swears to his or her birth except the parents that gave birth to that person.”
The petition urges the police commissioner to investigate and secure the teenager’s safe return. It cites the Supreme Court judgment in Lagos State Government v Abdulkareem (2022) 17 NWLR (Part 1859) pages 287–288, on the rights and religious freedom of minors.
Photographs allegedly showing Jinkai in a hijab alongside Ruqaiya and Hisbah officials, as well as purported forged birth certificates and affidavits, have been submitted as evidence.
Copies of the petition were sent to the Inspector General of Police, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State chapter, the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Wusasa, Zaria, Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, and CAN’s Youth Wing in Kaduna State.
