A young boy from Zamfara State has vowed to join the Nigerian Army when he grows up, driven by a desire to avenge the brutal k!lling of his father by suspected b@ndits in Magami town, Gusau Local Government Area.
In an emotional video that circulated online, the boy, identified only as Umar, recounted in the Hausa language how he watched his father be k!lled in front of him a trauma he said changed his life forever.
According to Umar, his father had returned home from harvesting peppers on the farm and gone to the market to buy food, including rice for the family. He was on his way back from the farm when he was att@cked and k!lled.
“He came back after harvesting seven baskets of peppers. He went to the market and bought food stuff. He also bought rice for us and came home.
His intention was, ‘Let’s cook rice.’ Then he went to dig up some pepper from the farm so we could cook soup. Man proposes, but God disposes.
As he was coming back, he never made it. They k!lled him,” Umar said.
He added that the att@ckers subsequently forced their way into the house and att@cked others present.
When asked about his ambitions, Umar said he intends to become a soldier in order to seek revenge not only for his father but for all others who have lost their lives to banditry in the region.
“I have the intention of taking revenge,” he said, before adding a prayer: “Whoever dies, may God have mercy on them. God does not abandon anyone.”
Zamfara State remains one of the worst-affected states in Nigeria’s North-West, where armed b@ndits have carried out repeated att@cks on communities, resulting in mass k!llings, k!dn@ppings, displacement and destruction of livelihoods.
