Dr Husseyn Zakaria .
Introduction:
Human rights are premised on universality. A child’s right to dignity, safety, and freedom of belief does not fluctuate with public sentiment, media convenience, or religious identity (United Nations, 1989). Yet recent patterns in Nigeria’s media and public advocacy, though it is not an isolated case, reveal a troubling contradiction: some violations provoke immediate national outrage, while others, equally grave or even more, are met with near-total silence.
This article examines that contradiction through a comparative analysis of two substantively similar cases of alleged child abduction, abuse, forced marriage and forced religious conversion: the 2016 Ese Oruru case and now the 2026 Walida Abdulhadi case. While the former dominated national discourse and triggered sustained media and civil-society mobilisation for a very long time, the latter has attracted very minimal or negligible attention despite confirmed arrest and an ongoing investigation. This disparity raises serious concerns regarding equality before the media, law, non-discrimination, child protection, and freedom of religion.By situating media silence as a structural human-rights concern rather than a neutral editorial choice, this article argues that selective outrage undermines Nigeria’s constitutional obligations and its commitments under international human-rights law. The silence is also confirmation that all is not well concerning the Nigeria project of unity and purpose.
Comparative Case AnalysisThe Ese Oruru Case (2016): Media Mobilisation and Moral Urgency:In 2016, Ese Oruru, a 14-year-old Christian girl from Bayelsa State, was allegedly abducted and forcibly married by Yunusa Dahiru who was then on national assignment; the NYSC. The case generated extraordinary national attention. Major Nigerian newspapers especially from the South, all private, states and national broadcast outlets, and online platforms published extensive investigative and non-investigative reports, editorials, and opinion pieces over several months. Social-media advocacy under the hashtag #FreeEse, further amplified public pressure, transforming the case into a national moral emergency (Premium Times, 2016; Punch Newspapers, 2016).
Public discourse frequently expanded beyond the alleged perpetrator to broader religious and cultural narratives, with Muslim leaders and communities subjected to intense scrutiny, blackmail and criticism. The sustained media attention played a decisive role in accelerating state response, judicial engagement, and policy discussions on child marriage and abduction, though without forceful conversion to Islam.
The Walida Abdulhadi Case (2026): Silence in the Face of Allegations:In 2026, Walida Abdulhadi, a 16-year-old Muslim girl, this time around, was allegedly kidnapped rather than abducted, abused, horrified, coerced into marriage and forcibly converted to Christianity despite her age by Ifeanyi Onyewuenyi, reportedly a staff member of Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS). Public reports confirm the suspect’s arrest and ongoing investigation. Yet, unlike the Ese Oruru case, this incident has not received sustained coverage in Nigeria’s mainstream media.
There have been no prolonged investigative features, no nationwide advocacy campaigns, no radio and television special programmes and no sustained editorial pressure. The relative silence is particularly concerning given the severity of the allegations and the involvement of a state security actor, a factor that ordinarily demands heightened transparency and public oversight. It is indeed very unfortunate.
Legal and Human Rights Obligations:Nigeria’s legal framework provides clear and unequivocal protections applicable to both cases. Domestically, the Child Rights Act (2003) criminalises child abduction, abuse, force conversion to a different religion and ultimately forced marriage, affirming the best interests of the child as paramount (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2003). The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) guarantees the dignity of the human person and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (Federal Government of Nigeria, 1999).
Internationally, Nigeria is bound by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obligates states to protect children from all forms of abuse, coercion, and discrimination (United Nations, 1989). The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child reinforces these obligations and explicitly prohibits discrimination on religious grounds (African Union, 1990). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights further affirms equality before the law and freedom of religion as foundational principles (United Nations, 1948).
Under these frameworks, any differential treatment of victims based on religious identity constitutes a failure to uphold core human-rights standards, in addition to being hypocritical.
Media Silence as a Human Rights Concern:
Freedom of the press does not absolve the media of ethical responsibility. When patterns of selective reporting emerge, particularly in cases involving vulnerable populations, silence itself becomes consequential. Media invisibility can restrict public scrutiny, diminish institutional accountability, expose hidden agenda and contribute to unequal access to justice (McQuail, 2010).
The contrast between the saturation and magnetization coverage of the Ese Oruru case and the relative invisibility and imperceptibility of the Walida Abdulhadi (who is a Muslim from the north) case suggests the existence of a hierarchy of victimhood and casualty within public discourse. Such hierarchies erode the principle of equality, sameness and impartiality before the law and risk normalising violations against religious bigotry.
From a human-rights perspective, silence in cases involving alleged state actors is especially dangerous, as it weakens mechanisms of democratic oversight and fosters conditions conducive to impunity. Such hierarchies undermine the principle of equality before the law and risk normalizing abuse against less visible or less socially favoured groups.From this perspective of the enlighten minds, silence in the face of credible allegations, particularly those involving state actors, may indirectly facilitate impunity and erode trust in accountability mechanisms.
Implications for Child Protection and Religious Equality: Selective media outrage carries serious consequences such as:
First, it undermines child-protection frameworks by signalling that some victims are less likely to receive justice, thereby weakening deterrence mechanisms.Second, it risks institutionalizing religious discrimination by implying that violations against Muslim children warrant less concern and attention contrary to non-discrimination norms enshrined in regional and international instruments (African Union, 1990).
Third, it diminishes accountability within security institutions, where transparency is essential to maintaining public trust.Finally, it compromises Nigeria’s credibility as a state committed to universal human rights, particularly in its reporting and engagement with international monitoring bodies.
Conclusion and Call to Action justice that varies according to tribal, religious or political identity is completely incompatible with human-rights law. Therefore, silence in the face of credible allegations of child abuse is not neutrality; it is complicity by omission.This article calls on local and international human rights organisations, child-protection agencies, UN Special Rapporteurs, UNICEF and media ethics bodies to subject the Walida Abdulhadi case to the same level of scrutiny, documentation, and advocacy applied to comparable cases in the past, and in thefuture. Our demand is not for preferential treatment, but for equal moral urgency and equal protection. If my country Nigeria is to fulfil its constitutional and international obligations, the rights of children and the freedom of religion must be defended consistently and without prejudice. The case of Walida Abdulhadi is not an anomaly, it is a measure of whether justice in Nigeria is truly universal. We are waiting to witness the miracle! I am at least, by writing this article, absolved from the blames of posterity.
#WALIDA ABDULLAH
#Walida
#Justice
