The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON) have urged Nigerians to exercise restraint following the conviction of Mrs Lami Samuel Dawa, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Borno state high court. The judgment, dated May 5, 2026, was delivered by Justice A. B. Kumdila under Section 210 of the state's Penal Code. Dawa was one of five defendants in the trial; the other four were discharged and acquitted, according to a report by The Punch.
Charges Against Lami Samuel Dawa
The chairman of the Maiduguri Branch of CLASFON, Ephraim Yidawi, who said his organisation represented Dawa and the other defendants during the trial, warned against oversimplifying the matter. He told The Punch that the defendants faced five categories of allegations: conspiracy to abduct a child; enticing or inducing a child to leave parental custody; removing a child from the lawful custody of her parents; depriving the child of access to education; and interfering with the child's religious practice and conversion to Christianity.
Yidawi said that Dawa was ultimately convicted on the charge of depriving a parent of the lawful custody of his child, not purely for preaching or facilitating a religious conversion. He added that an appeal had been filed and that the legal team was pursuing the appropriate remedies through the appellate process.
Social Media Reaction and Clarification
The case attracted significant attention on social media, with many Christians framing it as religious persecution after reports erroneously suggested Dawa was jailed for preaching to a Muslim girl who subsequently converted to Christianity. Yidawi's clarification aimed to correct the record, noting that the conviction was based on a specific charge related to custody, not solely on religious activity.
PFN and CLASFON Urge Restraint
The national secretary of the PFN, Bishop David Bakare, said that the fellowship's own inquiries indicated the publicly circulating accounts of the case were not entirely accurate. "PFN has been informed about the case, but our investigation shows that the case is not exactly as it is in the public domain, and I will advise that those commenting on the case should do a detailed investigation. We are being careful; we don't want to pursue a case just anyhow. We don't want to be ridiculed as uninformed people," Bakare said.
He noted that the PFN was satisfied an appeal was already before the appellate court, adding: "We are happy that the case is in the appeal court and we are monitoring what is happening. But in the interim, there is a need to tread softly and carefully on the matter." The appeal process is now the next step in the legal proceedings.
