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I begged God to end my life – Victim
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We have no money for treatment again – Wife
The beginning of a new year holds a lot of expectations for people as they look forward to great prospects and good fortune during the year.
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However, for a 45-year-old widow, Mrs Ramotu Adamu, mother of the 25-year-old Yahaya Galadima, the year started on an unpleasant note for her family following the tragedy that befell her son. His hands were chopped off by criminals while returning from Rukubi in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State where he had gone to work. The bandits cut off his hands after collecting all the money on him.
Narrating the family’s predicament in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust Saturday in Lafia, the state capital, she said her son who is married with three children had been the family’s breadwinner since she lost her husband.
She said, “He is my only son that struggles to get what the family eats. It is exactly five years now since I lost my beloved husband. Since this unexpected incident happened to my son, I have been having sleepless nights. I never dreamt that my son would one day become a cripple. I will never forgive those criminals.”
“My son can no longer clean up himself after visiting the toilet. I bath, feed and brush for him every day in the hospital because he has no hands again.”
The distraught mother said the family had spent over N250, 000 on treatment, appealing to the state government, individuals and organisations to come to their aid.
She also called on the state government to ensure security agencies arrest and prosecute the criminals for justice to be served as well as deploy security agencies in the area for the security of lives and property.
Also speaking to our correspondent, the 20-year-old wife of the victim, Mrs Fatima Yahaya, said the family has been in disarray since the unfortunate attack of her husband.
She said, “My husband has turned to a cripple overnight. I married my husband with his two hands but today those hands he used to work and feed me and our three children, his beloved mother, brothers and sisters have been cut off.
“How do I cope with this situation I have found myself in, particularly when I am not working? Where do I start from?”
“How do I pay the school fees of our children? How do we feed? Their education has come to an end. We need financial help,” the young woman cried for help.
The victim, who also spoke with our correspondent on his hospital bed at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, said he was in serious pain and that how to pay his medical bills had been a challenge to him.
“It is from the mechanic work I take care of my family. I want to use this medium to appeal to the state government to assist me,” Galadima said.
Narrating how the cruel fate befell him, he said it was around 8pm of the fateful day when he was returning with one of his apprentices, Salisu Haruna, who followed him to Rukubi.
“We went there on my Baja motorcycle to work in one of my customers’ house to fix his J5 that developed some mechanical faults. While we were returning back from Agbabo along Rukubi before Yeluwa, all of a sudden some gunmen ambushed us,” he said.
According to him, after they succeeded in stopping them, they started shooting into the air to scare away people. He said his attackers demanded that he should surrender all the money he had on him to them, which he immediately did, including his handset and motorcycle.
Galadima said his assailants did not touch his apprentice who stood there watching helplessly how they chopped his hands off.
“I have been an automobile mechanic for 10 years now. Now my dreams have been shattered. How do I feed my lovely wife and three children with this present life situation?”
“I am in the hand of God and He is the only one that can handle my situation. When I saw my two hands being cut off, I immediately begged God to take my life because I felt it was better to die than live without my two hands.
“All my attackers demanded I gave them, but I don’t know why they still went ahead and inflicted machete cut on me severally and finally cut off my hands. They stripped me naked and dragged me on the road before abandoning me under a tree.”
When contacted yesterday, the Nasarawa state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Nansel Ramhan, said no arrest had been made in connection with the attack.
He, however, said an investigation was ongoing to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others.
The police image maker appealed to the public to help with useful information.