An eight-year-old Almajiri boy, Abubakar Yahaya in Bako area of Kaduna metropolis, was found lying in a bush where he now calls home. The boy’s ordeal started after his mother married another man following his father’s demise.
In a video clip posted on Facebook by AGG Multimedia Services, Yahaya narrates how his family abandoned him and took him to Almajiri School, where he couldn’t stay due to his teacher’s demands.
Yahaya is an orphan whose mother remarried in Jos, Plateau State, and left him under the care of his maternal grandmother, who would later take him to Almajiri school, but his teacher demands that he bring rice and money before he can stay; hence, he sought shelter in the bush.
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“I am not afraid of anything in this bush. Allah is there to protect me,” the boy said. “My teacher said I must bring rice and money before I can stay in the school, and I don’t have any means of giving him that. So I decided to relocate here.”
“My mother remarried after my father died, but my stepfather said he couldn’t cater for me, so she left me behind,” he narrated, adding he had been sleeping in the bush for seven days and only went to the town to beg for food and money.
“I need someone to help me,” he appealed.
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The boy’s grandmother, who told her own side of the story, argued that the orphan had refused to stay with her and he left on his own.
“He was brought to me when he was six. That was when his mother remarried. He stays at the Almajiri school now,” she explained. But she didn’t admit or know that the boy was found in the bush.
She also argued that she had tried her best to raise him but couldn’t because he was too stubborn for her to handle.
Another woman, who was simply identified as Matan Mallam, said the boy’s grandmother had repeatedly admitted that she couldn’t afford to care for the child.
Matan Mallam said: “I decided to bring the boy under my custody because the grandmother doesn’t care. I brought him to my house despite the fact that I was struggling to feed my own orphans too.”
A resident who spoke on the matter expressed displeasure over the incident, calling on relevant authorities to intervene and cater for the child.
Another resident also blamed the parents, especially the mother of the child, who left her child in such a condition.
WikkiTimes learnt that a Kaduna-based not-for-profit organization, Zulhat Foundation, came to the rescue on August 4.
The Founder, Aisha Abubakar who spoke to WikkiTimes in a phone interview, confirmed they were informed about Yahaya last week and they visited his grandmother on Friday to confirm.
“We confirmed that the grandmother has been negligent about the condition of the boy,” she said. “He has been roaming about on his own for a long time. We also confirmed that the Almajiri school where he was enrolled was also negligent and the teacher forced them to go and find food for him every day.”
She added that the grandmother had since been taken into custody by the Nigeria Civil Defense Commission in Magajin Gari, Kaduna, where she was questioned about the child.
“She turned out not to be Abubakar’s biological grandmother. His relatives have reached out to us, telling us they will come from Port Harcourt, but it’s been a week and we haven’t seen anyone. Not even his mother.”
She further confirmed that the body is now at the orphanage home under the Ministry of Humanitarian Service and Social Development.
“He is being taken good care of. I am glad we found him. This boy has been exposed to a lot of bad things due to how he wanders. It could have been dangerous if he was left to grow in the streets,” she said.
