I did miss posting and reading your comments but between that and this? Plsssssssssss...it was too good o...I wouldn't trade it for the beautiful time I had this weekend, even though I almost got in an accident...
Anyway, moving on...I'd like to talk about my last post. Du'a Khalil, the 17 year old girl beaten to death for falling in love with the wrong tribe. It's one of the most painful things I have ever heard and seen. If I hadn't seen those pictures I probably would not have believed such a thing could happen...not even in Iraq.
I'm so bitter about this girls death, all I've been thinking about since I read the story and saw the video on CNN is the pain she must have been going through as they beat, kicked, and stoned her to death. I wonder about the fear, the begging, she was looking into their eyes and asking for forgiveness, asking for another chance to live and be someone, but her attackers saw her as another animal that didn't deserve that chance.
As I looked at those beating this young girl with the intention of killing her, I wondered what kind of hearts they had...Don't they have human feelings? Sympathy? No forgiving spirit? Don't they wonder what if that was me? Wouldn't I want to be forgiven? Couldn't they have tried to imagine the pain the girl must have been going through?
I kept calling her killers all kinds of names, saying an act like that could only happen in a country like that until my sister brought to my attention that something similar did happen in our own country, Nigeria, something as barbaric, if not more...
In 2005, an 11 year old boy was shown on television accused of trying to steal a child. The child's mother said she noticed the boy was making a move to carry her child out from her compound. Her shouts attracted a mob who surrounded the boy. He was questioned for hours and all they could get out of him was that his name was Samuel. He did eventually tell them where he lived but when the mob got there, the woman he pointed as his mother denied knowing him, everyone in the community said they had never seen him before.
The mob then agreed that 11year Samuel was a wizard who turned into a little boy to kidnap children. They decided to set him on fire. Someone brought tyres, another person brought kerosene, another, match sticks, all getting ready to set a young boy on fire, this was after beating the life out of him.
How many of you would believe his mob actually did carry out this act. Samuel was lynched while some police men stood aside and watched until he burnt to death. The worse part of it all was that before Samuel was killed Channels Television was already at the scene. They had interviewed the little boy who did nothing but cry, he couldn't tell them where he lived, who his parents were etc. That was enough to seal his fate.
Seeing all those women in the video, I thought one of them would offer to take him to the hospital (He looked sick), or take him home to feed him (He looked hungry) or take him to the police station to report him as a missing person. But none of this was done, instead, Samuel was set on fire while the press, some police men and a mob full of women stood aside and watched him turn to ashes. When I say ashes I mean ashes. This little boy burned till almost nothing remained of his body and the mob started jubilating that they had accomplished something.
This was not in Iraq, it was not in a Muslim State, this happened here in the Surulere/Stadium area of Lagos State. Not with fanatical Muslims but regular people that anyone would call sane and responsible.
I remember crying for days after seeing that lynching but I got some respite when I heard that some people who had also watched it on TV and were horrified by it had reported the case to the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, who made a report to the Governor, who then ordered the arrest of everyone found at the scene of the crime. It was through the Channels TV camera that almost everyone who participated in killing the boy were fished out. They were all incarcerated.
Last time I heard, they are all still in prison and I hope they stay there for a long time. Who are we to take lives? We have no such rights, no matter how provoked we are. Only God has that kind of right because he's the only who gives life.
To 11 year Samuel, 17 year old Du'a Khalil, the teacher that was beaten to death by her students in Bauchi State and everyone whose lives have been taken by some inconsiderate heartless people, may you all rest in peace. May that never be our portion, and our children's portion...Amen!
Let the families of these victims take solace in knowing that there's judgement for everyone of us when we leave this earth. We will make account of everything we've ever done. These people will one day face God, and they'll explain to him why they took the beautiful lives he brought to this world.
May God forgive us.
SAD!!!..the child's case is freaky o. How can his own parents deny him too, including his neigbours?..and y accuse a little boy of being so evil, wots the motive behind dat?...but nonetheless, wot they did was so uncalled for, but in a country as overly superstitious as naija wot d'u expect esp. with the accusations and intense suspicions surround the poor lil' boy.
ReplyDeleteThe one that BROOOOKE my heart wen i read it few days ago was the one about the teacher beaten to death by some students because she threw out a piece of paper they were cheating with, which incidentally contained Koranic verses. I crieeeeed men. esp, wen i saw the husband carrying their little child...see wot our society is turning into! Never for one second did i feel anger towards those kids...all my angst was channeled towards their useless,evil and barbaric parents whom they obviously look up to! Can u imagine wot a useless act of crime! Poor woman died for absolutely rubbish reason. abeg, lemme go, i am feeln sad all over again.
this is really something. i really feel for the lady and that boy. i heard about the boys story then and its quiet sad. for the iraqi girl, may her soul rest in peace
ReplyDeleteLinda why did you have to bring up this story again?Even though this Samuel's case happened two years ago,I can NEVER forget the horrific video clip I saw on tv.I had never seen anything like that in my life.I cried and cried and the picture refused to be erased from my mind for days.
ReplyDeleteThat boy ran towards a particular woman screaming MUMMY!! MUMMY!! and the woman denied ever knowing him.The mob had already started pounding her for being the mother of samuel.
I regret ever staying up to watch the news that night.
Someone poured fuel on the boy's head after he had been dragged across some metres in a pool of his own blood.Then another guy lit a matchstick and set his head on fire.May God help us all in this Country.
And to think that this happened some metres away from two police stations.
God what a hideous ending. I trully do not know what to say....
ReplyDeleteI heard about the story of that poor little hamrless boy that was lynched by some blood thirsty heartless animals in human flesh....there's always a day of reckoning and i pray that they all rot in prison like rotten tomatoes for their heinous crimes! Very callous savage animals.....
ReplyDeleteI hope that woman was really not his mother, because how could she deny her own child? mob mentality is soo horrible
ReplyDeletei say a big AMEN to ur last words...thats all i can say just now...*tears**
ReplyDeletethis is so very sad! how can they do that to an eleven year old boy? Probably the boy went through something horrible to make him have amnesia. yes its obvious that the boy was suffering from amnesia, since he could not remember anything. How could the police men and even the people from the tv station watch while they did that to that boy? I hope they rut in prison & thank God is nigerian prison they are in. What they should have done was take the child to the hospital. really may God forgive us.
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