The family of 17-year-old Jinkai Yusuf Simon has claimed that the teenager was kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and married off in Kano, sparking a new issue in Kaduna State.
On March 9, Jinkai, a student at St. Bartholomew’s Secondary School in Wusasa, Zaria, was reported missing after failing to return home from school. A few weeks later, the family claimed they were taken aback to find paperwork with a different identity and pictures purportedly of her wearing a headscarf. The family claims that the documents changed her age and renamed her “Aisha.”
Her elder sister, Jennifer Yusuf Simon, accused those behind the alleged conversion of falsifying records to legitimise the marriage.
“They produced fake documents where they falsified my sister’s age in order to get legal backing for their evil act,” she told Sahara Reporters in an exclusive interview.
“They did affidavit and changed her age. They wrote my name and my parents’ names on the court documents indicating that we consented to the marriage, which is a lie.”
According to the family, Jinkai was born on January 8, 2009, and they provided what they claimed to be her birth certificate as evidence that she is still underage.
According to reports, suspicion started when neighbors told the family that some of Jinkai’s possessions had been discreetly transferred to a friend named Rukkaiya. Subsequent investigations purportedly connected Abdulsamad, a guy, to her disappearance.
School authorities reportedly confirmed that the teenager attended classes on the day she vanished but left shortly after writing an examination.
A separate affidavit, reportedly filed at a Kano High Court registry on March 18, however claims that Jinkai, now identified as “Aisha Simon Yusuf”, is 19 years old and willingly changed her religion.
The Sarkin Wusasa of the Kaduna community said he alerted security authorities immediately after the matter was brought to him.
“When this disturbing issue was brought to my attention, I promptly alerted the DSS. However, no action was taken, and we were later confronted with images showing Jinkai, now reportedly renamed Aisha,” he said.
The incident has also triggered comparisons with the earlier case involving Walida Abdulhadi Ibrahim in Jigawa State, where security agencies reportedly responded swiftly following public pressure and outrage.
ENigeria Newspaper note that the handling of Jinkai’s case raises questions about selective intervention in sensitive religious matters.
When contacted, Kano State Hisbah spokesperson Auwal Ado said he needed time to verify the claims. No official response had been issued as of press time.
