A Christian orphan taken from the Du Merci Orphanage in Nigeria and held by the Kano state government has died while still in state custody.

The death occurred nearly 10 months after a court-approved agreement ordering the children’s release and return to their Christian caregivers, Human Rights Lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe wrote on an official page of U.S. Nigeria Law Group on Jan. 30.

The child, David Tarfa, was 13 years old at the time of his death. According to initial reports from sources familiar with the case, Tarfa had complained of stomach pain for about one week but was not taken to a hospital. He was later found dead in the government-run Nassarawa Orphanage in Kano. His siblings reportedly discovered his body upon returning from school.

Tarfa was among 27 children removed by Kano state authorities from Du Merci Orphanages in Kano and Kaduna states on Dec. 25, 2019. The Christian children were transferred to a Muslim-run orphanage in Kano. Since their removal, the case has drawn sustained attention from human rights advocates, religious freedom organizations, and legal observers.

In March 2025, Kano State entered a consent judgment agreeing to return the remaining children to the orphanage. However, the handover scheduled for March 19 did not occur. According to witnesses, officials from the Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs, Children, and the Disabled declined to release the children despite the court order. U.S.-based humanitarian observers who were present for the handover reported being physically threatened during the encounter.

International human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe, who has been involved in monitoring the case, stated that the children were initially removed on Christmas Day 2019 and placed in a Muslim-run orphanage, where they were given Islamic names and required to participate in Islamic instruction. Ogebe has previously described the case as involving state-led religious coercion of minors.

Tarfa was reportedly renamed “Dauda” while in state custody. Other children taken from the orphanage also reportedly had their names changed, including Emmanuel to “Ismail,” Destiny to “Samaila,” Mercy to “Amina,” Martha to “Khadijat,” and Esther to “Fatima.” Sources indicate that several of the children struggled to communicate in English after years in custody and instead primarily spoke Hausa, having been enrolled in Quranic recitation classes.

Concerns about children’s welfare have been raised repeatedly during the past five years. In an earlier incident, one of the orphans, Moses, suffered severe burn injuries while in the Kano orphanage following a fire. He was hospitalized for about seven months, and reports at the time raised questions about the adequacy of his medical care after surgery. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) documented the case in 2021.

In addition, Kano state authorities reportedly abandoned two sick children at a private hospital in 2020. That same year, some of the orphans were released into the care of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) after they resisted restrictions on attending church and school. The eldest child, who had been caring for the younger ones, was removed from the Nassarawa Orphanage in December 2020.

Eventually, most of the 27 children were released. Before David’s death, eight children remained in state custody. Following his death, seven children are still being held by Kano state authorities.

Tarfa’s death has also drawn attention because it comes amid other high-profile cases of alleged medical negligence in Kano. The state government is currently investigating the death of a Kano woman after surgical scissors were reportedly left inside her body following a medical procedure. Critics note the contrast between the ongoing investigation and the circumstances surrounding David’s death, which involved a minor under government care.

Kano is home to a large population of out-of-school children, including millions of Muslim Almajiri children who survive by street begging. In previous years, Kano authorities deported tens of thousands of Almajiri children to other states. Human rights advocates have questioned why the state assumed custody of Christian orphans from a private orphanage while declining to take responsibility for large numbers of vulnerable Muslim children within its jurisdiction.

International Christian Concern (ICC) continues to monitor the situation and has called for the immediate release of the remaining Du Merci orphans to their original caregivers. Advocates emphasize that eight of the children previously released have already returned to the orphanage without incident, and that the continued detention of the remaining seven children lacks a clear legal basis.

The death of David Tarfa marks the first known fatality among the children since their removal in 2019. Further details regarding the cause of death are still emerging. Calls for an independent investigation have intensified as attention returns to the unresolved fate of the remaining orphans still in Kano state custody.

Ogebe asked the mother of the late Tarfa, Irene Kanthiok Zamani from Zangon Kataf, Kaduna state, to contact Du Merci immediately regarding burial arrangements and last respects for her son.

“Our condolences to her and the Du Merci Orphanage family,” Ogebe said.

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