Zainab Naifarya, 1st Prize Winner 2015
Zainab is a teenage girl, who last year September was sent early in the morning to buy some food items for breakfast before going to school. It happened on a Friday, when she was on her way to the bakery to buy bread, she saw a woman wearing Hijab (veil) squatting down as if she was urinating beside a mosque wall, she just passed her but was having doubt in her mind because people do not urinate beside mosque wall and a woman for that matter.
“Women do not go to mosque here in the north but if they are pressed and there is nowhere to urinate, they are allowed to use the mosque toilet” She went and bought the bread and on her way back home she still saw that same woman squatting down in that same direction.
She became so confused that how long it will take her to urinate because she spent almost 10 minutes in the bakery. She still passed her by and moved faster where she met some men drinking tea in a fast food open joint and narrated what she saw, some of them didn’t
take her report serious but a man among them insisted telling them that they do not have to ignore such information, she might be seriously sick or she can be planning something evil due to the insecurity status and challenges in the town that really alerted the other men and agreed to go. When they got there, the woman was gone but they saw a nylon bag containing refuse’s and the girl said that there was nothing there when he passed earlier.
So one of the men said they should check what was inside, to their greatest surprise they found an object looking like an explosive, they quickly informed the police and the police came with their anti-bomb squad to detect and they found out that it was a bomb that the woman planted and they timed it to explode during the Friday prayer hour.
Innocent Yamawo, 2nd Prize Winner 2015
Innocent Yamawo is a little boy who lives with his ecclesiastic parents. Innocent would certainly live to remember this sad event for a very long time. Two years ago, as he was just clocking five years, Innocent’s house was gutted by a fiery inferno. He and his parents were able to make it out of the inferno. However, his one year old baby sister was in the house and nobody could summon courage to dare the fire and go in to rescue the little baby.
The Fire Service office was called but it took them time to arrive at the scene. His wailing father attempted to go into the burning house but he was held back by several people who judged that it was a futile attempt, as he may not make it out of the fire. Innocent stood by his mother who held his hands tightly; some female sympathizers were consoling her. Suddenly, Innocent jerked his hands out of his mother’s grip and ran into the burning house in an attempt to rescue his only sister. There was a loud shout from the crowd that was watching helplessly.
After a while, Innocent surfaced from the fire, carrying the lifeless body of his little sister. The one year old girl was long dead, asphyxiated by the intense smoke from the fire. Innocent sustained third degree burns which had led to some deformities on his body. Innocent got severely burnt and lost the complete use of one of his hands. The incident was covered by the press who came to interview Innocent’s mother who gave thanks to God that although her daughter died in the inferno, she was able to bury her corpse, thanks to her son Innocent. Her son will remain her hero for the rest of her life
Naja Nuhu 3rd Prize Winner 2015
Naja Nuhu is teenage girl who lives with her parents at no. 13, Musa Bawa Lane OffIshakuChetubo Street, New Karo in Abuja.
The story has it that one night; some robbers jumped the wall to gain access into the house, with the aim of stealing from one of the cars. Najawas up late that night, as it was her usual practice. That night, she stayed awake studying and suddenly, she heard strange noises and the sound of keys. Naja stood up from her bed and looked towards the direction of the strange noises.
Naja noticed two robbers trying to force open one of the cars. She fought back the urge to go and alert her father as she felt any slight noise from inside the house might draw the attention of the thieves who believed that the occupants of the house were all fast asleep. Spurred by God knows what thought, Naja came out of the house and went straight to confront the robbers. The two men trying to force the car door open became frozen, with their mouths wide open, as if they have just seen a real ghost. But they quickly came back to their senses and one of them ordered Naja to go down on her knees and not make any sound or he would smash her skull. The little girl summoned uncommon boldness and told the robbers that her father had shot a thief the previous day and he was about to shoot them. She told them that she came out to inform them that her father was aiming at them, right from the window. Naja added that her father refused all pleas from her mother not to kill any other person and that she didn’t want them to be shot like the dead robber. She urged them drop their weapons and stoop low because her father was at the window aiming his gun at them, that any attempt to scamper in escape would cause his father to shoot them. The robbers were so terrified that they complied with Naja and dropped their weapons (a dagger and a