ONE DEADLY CELEBRATION

ONE DEADLY CELEBRATION

The eve of the New Year is usually a moment of celebration, a moment to rejoice on the gift of life and sober reflection. It is also a moment to usher in the New Year, with hope and gratitude. However this was not the case for the family of Mustapha Sheriff and Yakau Mustapha.

Pic 1 Late Maryam Mustapha before the stray bullet incident pic 2 tiny hole at the ceiling where the stray bullet penetrated

However, the eve of the newyear 2022, happened to be a moment of sadness and regrets to Yakau, a 50 year old house wife living in Umarari, Layin kanti shabiyu of Bolori 2, ward in Borno state. The sad event happened in the wee hours of Friday night, while her daughter Maryam Mustapha Sheriff, a 14 years old girl, a class 4 student of Raudatul Iman Islamic school was sleeping in her mother’s bedroom, suddenly, around 12.45 am, when Maryam started crying that something has hit her head, as usual with a caring mum, the mother cross checked her forehead and found nothing she then consoled her and asked her to go back to sleep thinking it wass some sort of spiritual ailment that is afflicting her daughter. On further examination she realized blood wass oozing out from the temple of her daughter's face, She then used a rag and tied the head and encouraged Maryam to go back to sleep.

It was not until around 5.00 am that they realized there is an opening on the head, it was then that they suspected that it might be a bullet or a foreign object that caused the hole in her head, they rushed her to the Borno state specialist hospital. On close examination they were referred to the university of Maiduguri teaching hospital. As usual, the complicated aspect of the debate between victims of bullet and police report brought its ugly head, which forced the relatives to transit between Gwange Police Station, located close to the hospital and Ibrahim Taiwo Estate Police station, which serves the victim’s Community.

Unfortunately, Maryam was lost to the cold hands of death before receiving further support. Evidence from the medical report signed by medical experts indicated that Maryam was hit by a stray bullet. 

The general conclusion and perception from the community was that; Maryam was killed by a stray bullet from some security personnel stationed in the community, while celebrating the arrival of the year 2022. The question every member of the family is asking is, who has the custody of bullets in the community? Definitely, it is only security agencies that have bullets and guns. 

What every member of the community is waiting for is, who will come to the aid of the citizens to regulate where and how guns and bullets will be used especially in a state that needs every live bullet to fight the insurgency.

     

Amb.Ahmed Shehu the president and founder Peace Ambassadors Center for Humanitarian Aid and Empowerment stated that their team have visited the family and follow up the case and confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that it was a stray bullet hence they have reached out to all the relevant stakeholders from the formal and voluntary security sector with a view to provide  sustainable solution to this unfortunate incidences of stray bullets, rocket attacks and other form of  attacks to the vulnerable populations in Borno state. This incident and more are the reasons why during the commemoration of International Peace Day 2021 held in Maiduguri, stakeholders advocated for the signing into law of the policy on protection of civilians in conflict by the federal executive council. Most communities that are experiencing conflict across the world have policy on protection of civilian hence why should Nigeria be an exception.

As civil society, we are calling for special budget line by the Federal Government for special protection of residents in conflict affected communities and for reconstruction of damaged infrastructures as well as emergency programme that will cushion the effect of the conflict.

With support of the European Union funded Managing Conflict in Nigeria (MCN) Programme implemented by British Council, we shall convene a community accountability forum to come up with  sustainable solutions to the incidences. We believe this is the only way to Improve Security Service Delivery, Community Policing and State Policy on Peace and Security in Borno State.