Dear Child, Where Art Thy Innocence?

       When a 16 year old slaughters a 4 year old for the price of N50,000, I can only begin to wonder if there is still hope for the ones unborn.

If you have been following the latest trends in crime, you will have noticed quite a number are committed by minors. This is somewhat alarming and I can’t but comment about it because in the span of two days, I have come across children from different parts of the world committing crimes some adults will never have the bravery to try.

Quite recent and popular in many Nigerian newspapers is an account of the case of a 16-year-old boy that deceived his 4 year old neighbor to a primary school in the Ijaniki area of Lagos, Nigeria only to stab and strangle the innocent 4 year old to death. He then removed his intestines, his kidney and cut off of his eggplant. According to the paper, the child murderer was lured into such hideous act by a man who promised to give him N50,000 to get fresh human parts.

(PS: I would love to put up the picture but it is against the ethics of journalism)

The young boy confessed saying, “At first, I did not want to succumb to the temptation but it kept coming. When I woke up this morning (Monday), I saw Ibrahim at the back of the house. I told him to escort me to a primary school not too far from the house. The name of the school is Anglican Primary School, Ijanikin. He followed me to the place and on arrival there, I stabbed him with a knife from behind. He fell down and I strangled him with a rope. I then cut his stomach open with the knife. I am sorry for what I did”.

According to the command spokesperson, DSP Patricia Amadin, the police got an intelligence report that a young boy was murdered and when the police team visited the scene, the body of the victim was found on the floor with his stomach ripped open. On arrival, they found the lifeless body of a four-year-old boy while the suspect was soaked in the deceased’s blood. From close observation, it was discovered that some vital organs such as the kidney and intestine had been removed from the deceased. All the organs were kept in a black nylon bag. The suspect was promptly arrested and taken to the station.
  (Culled from Punch and InformationNG)

Another paper reported the case of yet another 16 year old boy accused of rape. It was reported that the boy defiled a 2 year old girl. He lured the girl into an uncompleted building and raped her there.

On the foreign scene, an 18 year old engineering student was arrested for building a small drone capable of firing a handgun.

Now I remember having a long conversation with a friend and he lamented a lot about the generation we are in and even fears for the ones yet unborn. The music has nothing to offer, too many obscene videos, the digital space is easily accessible, and vices are recognized as virtues depending on which part of the prism you are looking at it from.

When I was younger, there was a standing rule in my house that no child in that house should at the very least lift his or her hands to beat the other. For this same reason, my mother ensured we attended schools that didn’t have beating in their disciplinary methods. Although my mother mastery in beating techniques is exceptional, she saw it as a mother’s unique way of straightening her child, no one is else is permitted. This subtly taught my siblings and I how to be less violent.

Fast-forward this generation, the love of the fancy life is abound – a life that we percieved our parents deprived us from having, so, we allow our children indulge in all sorts forgetting that we are never around for them, we are too busy chasing careers. So you love the idea of your child learning martial arts in school, so its only normal that when an opportunity presents itself for him to show his skills, he will and might ‘accidently’ hurt his opponent, a child as well, who probably thought it was all fun and games.

Children are born innocent until they are exposed to types of vices that are easily picked these days, from schools, friends, television, and religious homes. They are very impressionable and have a natural inclination to be easily manipulated.  For instance, the first story about the 16 year old boy who slaughtered his 4 year old neighbor, I beleive the man he was approached by needed someone who won't draw any suspicion so he chose the perfect bait, a child. He probably must have observed this child and noticed his vunerability. He leveraged on it and offered a few thousands of naira for fresh human parts.  I can only imagine what this 16 year old could really need. Perhaps school fees – if he’s in school, maybe a bicycle he’s been eyeing, video games, throw a candy party for his peers and VAM!!! 50,000 yaff finish…

It is beyond my comprehension. I am still in shock. How in this world did he get so brave, has he been doing before but got unlucky today? Where did he pick up the act? Should his parents or guardian not be thoroughly probed as well? I strongly everyone related to this child and this case need to be put under thorough investigation.

My sincere sympathy goes to the parents of the murdered child. It is indeed very sad.