Family Accuses Kano Hisbah Board of Converting Missing Plateau Teenager to Islam
The family of a 17-year-old girl from Plateau State has accused the Kano State Hisbah Board of converting their daughter to Islam and marrying her off after she went missing in Kaduna State.
The allegation was contained in a petition dated May 6, 2026, addressed to the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police and seen by TheCable.
According to the petition, the teenager, Jinkai Simon, a native of Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, disappeared on March 9 after leaving home for school in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Jinkai was a student of St. Bartholomew’s Secondary School, Wusasa, Zaria, and had been living with her elder sister, Jennifer Simon, in the Kuregu area of the city before her disappearance.
The family, through its lawyer, stated that the teenager was last seen with a neighbour identified as Ruqaiya.
According to the petition, Ruqaiya later informed the family that Jinkai had converted to Islam and was taken to Kano State, where she was handed over to the Hisbah Board.
The family alleged that officials of the board subsequently changed her name from Jinkai Simon to Aisha Sani before marrying her to a man identified as Abdulsamad.
“The Hisbah Board, upon receiving the girl, changed her name from Jinkai Simon to Aisha Sani and married her off to one Abdulsamad, and as such is now going by the name Aisha Abdulsamad,” the petition stated.
The family further alleged that documents were falsified to alter the teenager’s age from 17 to 19.
Documents attached to the petition reportedly showed that Jinkai appeared before a Kano State High Court, where she deposed to an affidavit declaring herself to be 19 years old.
Her parents also accused the Hisbah Board of forging consent documents purportedly signed by them to facilitate the process.
“In order to perpetrate these illegal acts, the Hisbah Board went as far as forging consent documents purported to have been signed by parents, including causing her to swear to an affidavit that she is 19 years old,” the family alleged.
The petition called on the Kaduna State Police Command to investigate the matter and ensure the teenager’s safe return.
Copies of the petition were also sent to the Inspector-General of Police, the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Wusasa, Zaria, Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSW-N), and the youth wing of CAN in Kaduna State.
The Kano State Hisbah Board had not publicly responded to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
