WTF AFRICA- FATHER BURNS HANDS FOR STEALING

I stole handset to buy school uniform, textbooks —10-yr-old whose father burnt his palms for stealing

Mallam Aminu Sule with his son, Umoru

THE decision of an enraged father, Mallam Aminu Sule, to force his 10-year-old son Umoru, to use his bare hands to pick up burning coals after beating him over theft of a handset has set him in a face-off with anti-child abuse and law enforcement agencies in Niger State.

The boy, a Primary Three pupil of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Primary School near the Emir of Minna’s palace, was said to have resorted to the theft and sale of the handset, which reportedly belonged to one of his brothers, for the procurement of his school uniform and some textbooks after several appeals to his peasant and polygamous father had failed to yield any fruitful result.

Sunday Tribune’s investigation revealed that the boy had informed his father of the need to buy a new set of uniform and some textbooks. However, the father who was said to be a tout at the Kontagora Motor Park at central Minna, was in the habit of telling his son that he had no money.

When Umoru realised that his father who is married with two wives and blessed with many children was not interested in discharging his responsibilities as a father to him, the boy withdrew from school out of frustration .

According to the Executive Officer, Child Protection Network, a non-governmental agency in the vanguard of fighting for the restoration of the human rights of the less-privileged in the society, Mr. Mfon Akpakpan Udo, Umoru, who was described as an average student was said to have devised a crooked means of going back to school to continue with his studies by stealing his brother’s mobile phone with the intention to sell it and use the proceeds to buy his school uniform and textbooks and return to school and join his peers.

When Umoru’s brother discovered that his phone was missing , he reportedly asked if Umoru saw the phone and Umoru was said to have answered in the affirmative, adding that he had sold it.

On enquiry by family members on how much he sold the phone and to whom, he told them he got N1,200 for the phone.

“He was asked by the family members to take them to where the handset was sold. First, they collected the proceeds of the stolen handset from him and returned it to the buyer of the handset while the phone was also collected from him,” said Udoh

Mallam Aminu was reported to have been visibly annoyed by the act of his young son, saying that the boy had disgraced him and his entire family.

The man was reported to have said that as a Nupe man, he would not condone any act of stealing and that there was no thief in his village. For this, he decided to punish the little boy for his misdemeanor and was said to have taken him round the neighbourhood. When he found a fireplace, he was reported to have asked Umoru to use his bare hands to pick coals of fire.

According to Udoh, the little boy was said to have obeyed his father’s instruction by picking the burning coals, even as he was subjected to serious beatings.

As the boy closed his palms on the coals still burning, he cried loudly for help and forgiveness but his father was dreaded by his neighbours and the mother of the boy to the extent that nobody could appeal to him to forgive the boy for fear of being attacked.

The boy held his two palms together , holding the coal of fire until he collapsed. When his father observed that the boy had fallen, he was said to have left him to writh in pains, just as Aminu’s cry increased when he saw the extent of burns on his palms.

Udoh revealed that Mallam Aminu did not take the boy for treatmant of the wounds afterwards, until several days after the boy had been subjected to the inhuman treatment.

It was gathered that the wound started festering and that the father still refused to pay attention to the worsening health condition of the boy until a good Samaritan saw the little boy in agony and took him to Mfon Akpakpan Udoh’s NGO, which specialises in child protection.

“In fact, when we saw that the boy’s condition was pathetic, we decided to formally report the case at a nearby ‘A’ Division central police station, Minna where the crime was committed initially, as a case of child abuse, and the police invited his father to the state Police Command Headquarters, Minna, where in his confessional statement, he admitted to the crime,” Udoh revealed.

Sunday Tribune further learnt that the case was later referred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, which at the conclusion of the police investigation, charged the suspect to court.

Udo stated further that the case took a new dimension for the boy and his organisation same day the case came up in the court as they had already had secured an appointment for a courtesy visit on the Niger state Chief Judge, Right Hon. Jibrin Ndatsu Ndajuwo. On sighting the boy on their arrival in his office, Chief Judge asked how the boy got inflicted with such injuries on his hands.

“We explained to him and he really felt pity for the boy. He immediately offered to be responsible for the boy’s school uniforms and textbooks for the remaining three years that the boy would be spending in the primary school.

Udoh revealed that Justice Ndajuwo had bought Umoru’s school bag, uniform and even textbooks, while the boy was at that point admitted for treatment at the General Hospital, Minna.

He added that the boy had been responding positively to treatment but was still on admission in the hospital, and that he would go and resume his studies at the IBB Primary school, Minna as soon as the school re-opens for a new term.

Sunday Tribune learnt that Mallam Aminu was released on bail when charged to court, as Umoru was crying that his father should be pardoned. The case had however been adjourned till further date.