In its May 26 ruling, the court described the actions taken against the woman, identified by the pseudonym “Sarah,” as a “flagrant violation” of her fundamental rights to human dignity and freedom of religion, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.
The court also ordered that she receive financial compensation, ADF said in a Tuesday, August 11 report announcing the ruling.
Sarah, a resident of Kano State, reportedly fled her family home in 2025 after suffering abuse from her elder siblings, who were allegedly attempting to force her into marriage.
Her parents had died years earlier, and her siblings subsequently enlisted local Hisbah officials to have her arrested, according to ADF.
Sarah was reportedly detained for four days. She alleged that she was beaten and pressured to accept the marriage from which she had fled.
She later found refuge with a Christian family, the Abaras, and voluntarily converted to Christianity while staying with them, ADF reported.
Amid fears of further threats, the family helped her relocate to Jos in January 2026. Her siblings subsequently accused the Abaras of kidnapping her.
On February 24, Sarah filed a fundamental-rights enforcement action challenging the measures taken against her. Two days later, the Abaras were arraigned in Kano without legal representation.
The Federal High Court subsequently prohibited Kano State authorities and Hisbah officials from pursuing Sarah’s arrest because of her conversion or her refusal to enter the proposed marriage.
“The court’s ruling in Sarah’s case affirms that the Hisbah police have no jurisdiction over Christians or other non-Muslims,” ADF Senior Counsel for Global Religious Freedom Sean Nelson said.
He added, “Sarah’s choice to convert and reject a forced marriage is her right under law.”
Sarah welcomed the judgment and expressed gratitude to the Christian family that had sheltered her.
“The Abara family kept me safe in a time when I had nowhere else to go. I am grateful to them especially for introducing me to the Gospel. It is not against the law for me to choose my faith in Jesus,” she said.
She also expressed gratitude that the court had recognized her freedom to become a Christian and protected her from the religious police.
The criminal proceedings against the Abaras remain pending in Kano, with ADF providing legal assistance.
Previous cases involving Christian converts
Sarah’s case follows other reported incidents involving people who converted, or were suspected of converting, from Islam to Christianity in northern Nigeria.
In January 2018, the reported conversion of Nabila Umar Sanda, then a 19-year-old student at Bingham University in Abuja, attracted national attention after security officials intervened.
Media reports indicated that Nigeria’s Department of State Services arrested Sanda and some of her Christian associates after Islamic leaders learned of her conversion. Christian leaders Jeremiah Datim and Simput Dafup were also reportedly drawn into the case, which unfolded in Jos, Plateau State.
Hisbah organizations operate in several northern Nigerian states to enforce Islamic moral codes. They have faced allegations of interfering with Christians and other people who are not subject to Islamic religious obligations.
In November 2023, International Christian Concern reported that Hisbah officials in Kano stopped five Christian girls who were travelling to church. The girls were allegedly instructed to dress according to Islamic standards and prevented from attending church until the service had ended.
In another case, Pastor Yohanna Shuaibu was killed by a mob in Kano State in 2021 following allegations that he had helped convert a Muslim man to Christianity.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that Shuaibu was attacked after being accused of involvement in the man’s conversion.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that the man had left Islam but was attending neither a church nor a mosque. Members of the local Muslim community nevertheless reportedly assumed that he had become a Christian and blamed Shuaibu.
According to the organization, Shuaibu had returned to Massu village in Kano State’s Sumaila Local Government Area to evacuate children from a Christian school when the mob attacked him. He later died from injuries sustained in the attack.
