In Nigeria’s lengthy historical past of elite impunity, a brand new and explosive case has emerged one which reveals the terrifying extent to which energy can be utilized to silence, disgrace, and destroy a lady who dares to talk the reality. On the centre of this case is Hadiza Musa Baffa, and the person she accuses is a minimum of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former Minister of Particular Duties below President Goodluck Jonathan, and one-time presidential aspirant.
Hadiza is not only alleging abuse, she is combating for her life.
In her phrases and now in proof, she was violated, manipulated, and allegedly trafficked into sexual servitude by Turaki, a person she claims was entrusted by her mom, his lover to assist her entry training and a future. As an alternative, Hadiza says she grew to become his “plaything,” exploited from her youth and finally compelled to hold eight pregnancies, which she chillingly alleges have been harvested for ritual functions.
Her story might need been dismissed as emotional rant aside from one unshakeable reality: a DNA check has confirmed Kabiru Tanimu Turaki is the daddy of her baby. The outcomes returned a 99.99995% chance of paternity simple, scientific proof that straight contradicts his earlier public denials of ever realizing her. And that’s when issues took a terrifying flip.
Moderately than acknowledge paternity or face obligation, Turaki allegedly activated the one software that males of his stature usually flip to when cornered: the police. Not simply any police, however officers of the Power Legal Investigation Division (FCID) deployed, reportedly below his instruction, to trace, harass, and forcefully arrest Hadiza in a fashion that violated each authorized and ethical normal.
On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, whereas Hadiza returned briefly house to choose up clothes for her baby, she was ambushed. Officers reportedly broke down her door, detained her alongside her daughter, and handled her as a hardened legal. There was no public warrant, no due course of solely the uncooked power of a system seemingly defending the highly effective.
And all of this occurred even if Turaki himself repeatedly ignored police invites, evaded arrest, and even allegedly faked a visit to the US to purchase time whereas plotting a brutal ambush in opposition to the mom of his baby.
Hadiza is now in concern for her life. In her public statements, she warns that if something occurs to her or her daughter, the Nigerian public ought to maintain Kabiru Tanimu Turaki accountable.
However greater than a private tragedy, this case now stands as a nationwide check of conscience.
If the allegations are true, then this isn’t merely a custody battle or a lover’s spat it’s the deliberate destruction of a younger girl’s physique, dignity, and future, carried out by some of the embellished authorized minds within the nation. It’s using state equipment for vengeance, not justice. It’s the erasure of a lady’s voice within the title of elite preservation. And it ought to terrify each Nigerian.
What does it say about our nation when a person credibly accused of rape, ritual abuse, and paternity evasion can weaponize the legislation to arrest his accuser? What does it say when DNA proof confirms the reality, and but it’s the sufferer who’s thrown into custody?
Hadiza Musa Baffa isn’t searching for pity. She is demanding fact, accountability, and the precise to dwell with out being hunted. Her story should not be swept below the carpet of affect. Her voice should not be drowned by silence. Her baby should not grow to be a pawn in a cycle of elite punishment.
And if Nigeria nonetheless believes within the rule of legislation, then Kabiru Tanimu Turaki have to be referred to as to reply not in silence, not in secret, however within the full glare of justice.
The time for complicity is over. The time for braveness is now.