The co-founder of the Du Merci Centre Orphanage, Kano, Professor Richard Solomon Musa Tarfa, has called on the Kano state government to release 16 inmates of the Orphanage forcefully taken into custody by the government.
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He lamented that the condition of the children was deteriorating by the day due to inadequate care from the authorities.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Tarfa alleged that the religion of the 16 children, who were made up of seven males and nine females, were been changed against their wish.

Recall that Tarfa was arrested on 25 December 2019 when armed police officers, accompanied by agents of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), invaded the Du Merci orphanage in Kano.

After being obliged to accompany officers on a similar raid on the Du Merci orphanage in Kaduna state on 31 December, he was subsequently held in pre-trial detention until 10 December 2020, when he was released on bail.

On 24 June 2021, he was acquitted of abducting 19 children from their legal guardians and confining them in an unregistered orphanage by a High Court in Kano.

But in March 2022, he was convicted by a High Court in Kano State for forging a certificate of registration from the Kano state Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development and later released in January 2023 after an appeal was filed.

In his interaction with journalists, Tarfa alleged that most of the children had stopped schooling, while they have rapidly lost English communication skills.

He called on the minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, to intervene urgently to ensure the timely release of the children.
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In view of the imminent transition from APC led government in Kano, under Governor Umar Ganduje’s to NNPP government, Prof Tarfa also called on relevant authorities in Kano to expedite actions to ensure the children are released before May 29, when the administration is expected elapse, especially now that the charges against him have been quashed.

Tarfa said he and his wife have suffered untold persecution since their ordeal started, charged with criminal abduction of minors and sentenced to prison before he was later vindicated by a superior court.

Tarfa, who was released from prison in January 2023, said, it amounted to double jeopardy for the Kano State government to continue to hold on to the 16 children, against the backdrop of the judgment of the superior court, which exonerated him.

“Initially, I and my wife were arrested, under the pretext that we were operating an illegal orphanage. Due to Merci was forcibly closed by the Kano State authorities. When we eventually proved that the Centre was operating legally, they changed the charges to forceful abduction of minors. They have done everything to rope me but because I did nothing wrong, I have continued to triumph.

In 2002, following the intervention of the late Emir of Kano and a legal challenge in the wake of a similar raid, a High Court ruled that the Du Merci Centre was duly registered and was conducting a legitimate endeavour. It also ordered the return of the children who had been seized. A copy of this ruling is also available easily.”

“The pressing issue now is the release of the 16 children at my Centre that were forcefully taken away. If their action is based on the allegation that I was operating illegally, now I have been exonerated. I want my children back. They need to be taken care of. They need to go to school.

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