Seven children seized from a Christian orphanage network in northern Nigeria more than six years ago remain in the custody of Kano State authorities after a meeting convened to finalize their return ended without a handover.

The children were removed from the Du Merci Centres for vulnerable children in Kano and Kaduna states on Dec. 25 and 31, 2019, by police officers and agents of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, according to the United Kingdom-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). At the time, Professor Solomon Tarfa, who co-founded the Du Merci Centres with his wife, Mercy, was arrested on spurious charges.

A total of 27 children were seized in the raids and placed in the Nassarawa government orphanage, where advocates say they experienced mistreatment, neglect and sustained pressure to convert to Islam. Those who reached the age of majority were eventually released, leaving 16 minors in the government facility.

Eight of the older remaining children were released on Aug. 13, 2025, after one began experiencing mental health challenges. The eight youngest were required to stay at the orphanage pending a review by the Kano State attorney general of a 2025 consent judgment. The judgment, delivered by a Kano State High Court, ordered the formal return of all children to the Tarfas’ care on or before March 19, 2025.

One of the children, 13-year-old David Solomon Tarfa, died in January after the orphanage’s authorities did not provide urgently needed medical attention.

The Tarfas were informed earlier this month that the attorney general of Kano State had requested their presence at a meeting last Wednesday for the handover of the seven surviving children. Prof. Tarfa was unable to attend due to ill health. Mrs. Tarfa attended with the family lawyer, the couple’s eldest son and an older daughter who had been released from the government orphanage in 2025.

A document stating that the children had been returned to the Tarfas was finalized during the meeting, bearing the signatures of the attorney general, the commissioner for women’s affairs and social development, the solicitor general, the permanent secretary of the Ministry for Women’s Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Tarfa, her lawyer and the Tarfas’ son.

However, the commissioner left the proceedings before they concluded, taking all of the children with her.

Unfortunately, the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs had reportedly spent the previous night with the children, persuading them not to return to Du Merci.

Also attending the meeting was American pastor and religious freedom advocate Bill Devlin and human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe, who both traveled from the United States to oversee the handoff. 

In an email to The Christian Post, Devlin alleged that the commissioner had reportedly spent the previous night with the children, persuading them not to return to Du Merci.

"During the meeting, for which she procured several members of the press, both the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and the Attorney General of Kano State confirmed their signatures on an updated consent agreement," Devlin said.

"However, when cameras were turned on, the Commissioner asked the children if they wanted to go. The children began to cry and said, 'No, we do not want to go.' The meeting then abruptly ended, and the Commissioner’s team spirited the children back to the Nasarawa Children’s Home, defying the signed decree.  Interestingly enough, none of the children had their belongings with them."

Ogebe and Devlin requested an appeal with the attorney general's staff, demanding to know "how a state government could disregard a signed consent decree issued by a court."

"The Attorney General promised to intervene in the situation," Devlin wrote. 

During their six years at the government facility, the children faced consistent pressure to convert, CSW states. The youngest eight were described as the most vulnerable to that pressure.

Children who had converted were told before last week’s meeting that they would be killed if they returned to the Du Merci Centre, either for having converted to Islam or if they reverted to Christianity.

A coroner’s inquest into David’s death began on April 8. The inquest has reportedly concluded, though its findings have not been made public. The letter produced at last week’s meeting stated that David’s body would not be released because of the ongoing inquest.

The Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the state’s attorney general had previously filed a suit at the juvenile court seeking an order directing the orphanage to release the body for burial in accordance with Islamic rites, but later withdrew it.

Legal proceedings to return the remaining children have been repeatedly deferred. In one instance, the Tarfas’ lawyer was informed on April 2 that the case had been adjourned indefinitely because the presiding judge was observing Hajj in Mecca. That was the fifth deferral in five months.

Among the points of contention at the meeting this month was the authorities’ refusal to hand over the four eldest children on the grounds that three were nearly 18.

CSW Chief Executive Officer Scot Bower said Kano State authorities had “disregarded the High Court ruling for far too long” and called for the urgent and unconditional return of the seven children, the handover of David Tarfa’s body in accordance with his family’s wishes, an end to what he described as harassment and legal persecution of the family, and compensation commensurate with the trauma inflicted on the Tarfas and their children.

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/children-taken-from-christian-orphanage-still-in-govt-custody.html