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Toks David, Lagos
“As soon as he touched her face with the handkerchief, she passed out,” so said Ibrahim Yusuf about the attack on 26-year-old Fatima Habu Usman, a final year student of the University of Maiduguri who last Friday was kidnapped by unknown commercial tricycle operators in Borno State and doused in acid.
Yusuf, a male relative of Fatima, a female student of UNIMAID’s Department of Nursing, recalled the gruesome incident, part of a long and worrying trend of acid attacks by anonymous persons on unsuspecting victims.
Fatima, according to Yusuf, had boarded the tricycle in front of First Bank after depositing cash in the building.
“She boarded a commercial tricycle (Keke NAPEP) to Baga Road, but unknown to her, one of the men in the tricycle brought out a white handkerchief and pretended as though he was having cough.
“As soon as he touched her face with the handkerchief, she passed out, only to find herself dumped at the Railway Bayan Quarters area, bathed with a substance suspected to be acid around 1 PM”.
Fatima is currently being treated for severe burns at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), where chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee, Bashir Tahir, says she is recovering and may undergo surgical and reconstructive procedures.
As for the anonymous culprits behind the attack, Borno State Police Commissioner, Damien Chukwu, said investigations are ongoing to find them, determine their motive, and bring them to justice.
Until then, Fatima Usman, a promising young nursing student, recuperates in hospital, battling for her life and wanting some answers of her own.
