Pastor’s daughter, who converted to Islam, Charity Uzoechina, set to wed

Aishat (Charity) Uzoechina, the 26-year-old daughter of Pastor Raymond Uzoechina, who converted to Islam last year, is set to wed.

The Executive Director of Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, Ishaq Akintola, whose organization has kept tab on the convert for months, said Miss Uzoechina is set to marry on May 2.

Mr. Akintola, a professor at the Lagos State University, said in a message posted to a discussion forum moderated by MURIC, that Miss Uzoechina would be marrying the lawyer who handled her case after her conversion to Islam became controversial.

Mr. Akintola’s message reads as follows:

Salaam All,

Remember Sister Aishat? She is the pastor’s daughter who reverted  to Islam last year and the father raised hell in Niger State. MURIC has been monitoring her progress.

She is to wed on Friday, 2nd May, 2014.

Guess who is the proposed husband? Barrister Tijani, the lawyer whom MURIC got to handle her case in court.

Isn’t this worth celebrating?

Details of the arrangement for Miss Uzoechina’s marriage ceremony are not immediately available.

PREMIUM TIMES could not reach her and her fiancé for comments.

Background

Miss Uzoechina, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, converted to Islam on February 13, 2013, angering her family and sparking a religious controversy in the country.

Following her conversion, she dropped her first name (Charity) and adopted Aishat in its place.

Fearing for her life, she stopped school and approached a Shariah court in Niger state, asking for protection from her parents.

The court asked the Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, the spiritual and political head of the Bida emirate in North-Central Nigeria, to take her into custody.

However, her father, Pastor Uzoechina, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) tried to take her back from the Etsu Nupe, accusing the Emir of abducting and forcibly converting the student to Islam.

But the Etsu Nupe and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) insisted that Miss Uzoechina voluntarily converted to Islam and on her own sought refuge at the Etsu Nupe’s palace in Bida out of fear she might be harmed.

Miss Uzoechina was quoted at the time as saying her conversion to Islam was “strictly personal, gradual and well thought-out.”

“I joined Islam purely on my own terms. I love the character of Muslims that I have related with, particularly the way they behave. You know Muslims believe in God,” Miss Uzoechina, told OnIslam.net at the time.

“I have Muslim friends and I watched what they do, that enticed me to join Islam.”