Journalist who alleged that the Kaduna State Govt abandoned the boy
whose 'eyes were plucked out by ritualists' shares more details
Journalist Femi Owolabi revealed yesterday that the Kaduna State
government hasn't fulfilled its promise to sponsor the boy's education
and have allegedly abandoned him. Read
here . Femi has now shared a more revealing update. Read below
At a moment yesterday, as a father you know, I broke down, when with
Abubakar.When I lifted him into my arms, he started using his palms to
rub my index finger and was saying, "Ina kwana? Ina kwana? Ina kwana?
(how was your night/sleep?) He wouldn't stop until I answered. I was
looking into his face. Handsome. And smart. This little boy.
"It was on a Sunday morning," Abu's father recounted. He and his brother
usually go for Quranic class, but Abu won't go until he collects money
to buy what he will take along to class. His grandma gave him money and
he went to the third house to this place, where he usually buy cheese
ball. Cheese ball had finished and he was returning when some people
called him. I wasn't around, it was his grandma who was at home. After a
while that she didn't see him return, she went outside to look for him,
and there, she saw a circle of people gathered, round his son. His two
eyes have been removed. Everything happened in just 30minutes."
The Kaduna State Police PRO is yet to pick my calls. I'm not sure if
this is still being investigated, because no suspect has been identified
by the police. The parents told me they've given up on the police, a
long time.
I gathered that the Emir of Zaria attempted to assist Abu by taking him
to a specialist hospital in Kaduna for a possible eye transplant.
Unfortunately, the hospital said it's beyond what they can handle.
Again, it is a shame on the Kaduna State government who has failed to
redeem its pledges. What will it cost Governor Nasir el-Rufai to fly Abu
to India or Germany for further treatment, which he really needs? And
sadly, because he wasn't sure if our mission was a genuine one, the
Director of the school we intend to put Abubakar in Zaria told me
yesterday that, "that was how the Local Government Chairman went to the
media to say that they (the government) have already put the boy in our
school whereas, there's nothing like that."
Politicians and their wicked ways. At first, I didn't wanna get myself
bothered about this because the report was that a delegation from the
Kaduna State government had visited him-- with pledges-- in the
hospital. It was all propaganda, we now know. What the government gave
Abu was less that N200, 000. And since that hospital visit, no one from
the government office has come to check on Abu in that rickety corner in
Zaria.
On a lighter note; I visited Abu with beverages and some stuffs. As I
dropped the items on the floor, Abu would pick and hand it over to his
grandma. He picked the cornflakes pack, gave to his grandma. Picked the
milo and milk sachets, gave to his grandma. When his hand touched the
carton of Bobo, he didn't make any attempt to give this one to his
grandma. He started dragging it with his brother, and was shouting; "Ina
so in sha Bobo! Ina so in sha Bobo!! (I want to drink Bobo!).
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