A father (names withheld) handed over his son whom he alleged was a member of Boko Haram to the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, Borno State and requested that the troops shoot the son dead in his presence.
According to eyewitnesses, the man who is a trader at the popular Monday International Market in the metropolis said that the son had once threatened to kill him before he fled home to an unknown destination and later returned home a few days ago as security operatives continued to clamp down on the sect.
“He was said to have returned as a prodigal son and wanted some kind of asylum in his father’s compound without knowing that destiny was at the door waiting for him. After confessing all his crimes including how he participated in the killing of people and looting of banks to his father, the old man said he had no such conscience of keeping a killer son in his home,” a family member said.
The 60-year-old Kanuri man who lives in Babban Layi commercial area of Maiduguri metropolis simply approached the Sector Command office of the JTF in the area and asked the troops to instantly shoot his son to death.
The witnesses quoted him as saying, “This boy is my son; he is a confirmed member of Boko Haram, and has killed many people; he too must be killed.”
In a dramatic twist, the young man was shot at once as he attempted to flee from the soldiers. And his father, who had not gone far from the JTF, simply turned and looked at the writhing body of his son and said, “Masha Allah” meaning, “To God be the glory.”
Before the boy was handed over to the soldiers, he allegedly revealed to his father and family members that he had two cars and millions of naira buried near his father’s house.
But the no-nonsense father replied, “I have no interest in his ill-gotten wealth and I have no intentions of inheriting them. In Islamic injunctions they are ‘haram’ (forbidden wealth).”