A High Court in Nigeria’s Kano state has adjourned the trial of Professor Richard Solomon Musa Tarfa, co-founder of orphanages for vulnerable children in Kano and Kaduna states, until 26 February.

The trial took place on 21 January and began at approximately 10.15am. CSW’s sources report that the presiding judge subsequently adjourned the case at the request of the state counsel, and the court proceedings ended at 10.29am.

Professor 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 orphanage in Kano along with journalists and without a search warrant.  On 31 December the professor was obliged to accompany officers during a similar raid on the Du Merci orphanage in Kaduna state, and was initially charged with operating an orphanage illegally. However, the charge was changed to ‘criminal abduction of minors’ after his wife produced documentation proving the orphanage was duly registered with several government bodies.

On 6 January Prof Tarfa’s case was transferred from a Magistrates court to the High Court, and on 10 December he was freed after a year in detention, following a review of his bail stipulations.

Twenty-seven children were transferred to a government-run facility following the armed raids on the Du Merci orphanages in Kano and Kaduna states. Once in the Nasarawa Children’s Home, they were not permitted to leave the premises to attend school or church and have complained of being mistreated on account of their religious belief. Most recently, authorities have begun a process of forcibly relocating children from the government-run home, which has raised concerns for their continued physical and psychological wellbeing.

On 18 January, Emmanuel (Little), Mercy and Destiny Tarfa, all aged four, were forcibly separated from their older siblings and taken to an unknown rural location. More forced relocations are expected to follow.

The adjournment of the trial raises further concerns for the situation of the Du Merci children, with CSW’s sources expressing concern that the delay may be intended to give the authorities more time to force Emmanuel, Mercy and Destiny to testify against Professor Tarfa, and his wife Mercy, who co-founded the orphanage with her husband. The state counsel is also reported to have visited two of the children in the Nasarawa Children’s Home and attempted to pressure them into witnessing against their parents.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “These delays in the case of the Du Merci orphanages are extremely concerning, and appear to indicate more sinister machinations by the Kano state authorities to buy more time to defame the Tarfas. What is particularly disturbing is the ongoing psychological trauma of three extremely vulnerable pre-school children who are being kept away from those who love and care for them. CSW continues to urge the authorities in Kano to drop all charges against Professor Tarfa and to return all of the children from the Du Merci centres to their parents as a matter of urgency, in order to prevent further, and possibly irreparable psychological and emotional damage.”

Note to editors:

1.       The Du Merci Centres were founded by Professor Richard Solomon Musa Tarfa and his wife Mercy in 1996 to care for abandoned children in the Christian district of Sabon Gari in Kano state with the Kaduna state branch opening later. The centres provided accommodation for these children, who view the Tarfas as their parents and who are educated and cared for until they can live successful independent lives. The orphanages also accommodated young women who became pregnant out of wedlock, until they gave birth, reconciling them whenever possible with parents who had rejected them due to social stigma.

2.       While the court case against the professor was ongoing, the Kano State Police and NAPTIP Kano reportedly informed the Kaduna State Governor, erroneously, that the Du Merci Orphanage was operating illegally in Kaduna.  Mrs Tarfa was summarily evicted, and the building was demolished during the early stages of the outbreak of the COVID 19 epidemic.