On January 25, 2016 the predicament of four year old Usman Sadiq shocked the nation when he was found with his eyes gouged out .Now, he is completely blind and cannot play with other children unaided.He has however placed a curse on those who committed the dastardly act.
According to Khadija Usman, Sadiq’s elder sister, Sadiq’s ordeal started with his craving to eat sweets before going for his Koranic classes.
Before she could proceed, Sadiq volunteered to narrate his story to Punch the best way he could:
“One day, grandma gave me N10 to go and buy sweets. I went, I saw two men on a motorbike. They were following me and one of them asked me whether there was a road in front and I said no. Later, they promised taking me to where they would get better sweets for me.“Then, they grabbed me and took me away to where I was given injections several times and they removed my eyes,” Sadiq said in fluent Hausa language.
Khadija took over the narration:
She said,
“For over 30 minutes grandma didn’t see Sadiq but we were relaxed, thinking that he was out there playing with his friends as usual. But after a while, some of our neighbours came to inform us that they saw Sadiq in a pool of his blood at a dump-site behind the village’s baby-friendly hospital and that his eyes were removed. We all ran there, saw him crying and discovered it was true. Then, we saw that his two eyes were gone.”
Sadiq’s grandmother told SUNDAY PUNCH that she cried uncontrollably at the incident. Taking solace in God, she said,
“I know it was Allah’s wish that such a thing should happen.”“When the unfortunate incident happened, I cried bitterly and could not eat for many days. I know that God will not let the perpetrators of this dastardly act go unpunished,”
Meanwhile, arrangements are in place to fly Sadiq to India. Sadiq’s elder sister said the gesture was in fulfillment of the Emir’s promise on sponsoring the treatment.
She added that though at ABUTH, doctors had proposed to construct artificial eyes to fill the spaces left; the overseas treatment had put on hold the surgery in Nigeria.
“His royal highness, Dr. Shehu Idris is making arrangement to take the boy overseas for further treatment,” she said.
The four-year-old is said to be coping well with his condition. Though blind, family members said Sadiq now recognises them and his friends through their voices.
This was unlike when the incident occurred.
“Initially, Sadiq would always ask his mother to open his eyes for him so as to see her (his mother). It was a pitiful sight and we would cry but now, he knows what has happened to his eyes and now recognises us with our voices,” said the grandmother.“We are praying to Allah to open Sadiq’s heart to be able to do wonderful things like some of the world’s outstanding blind persons. Sadiq is a wonderful boy and we are ready to do our very best for him. We have accepted what Allah has destined and we don’t have problems coping with his current predicament.”
Can Sadiq see again? The Chief Medical Director, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, Zaria, Prof. Lawal Khalid, responded in the negative.
“No, but the removed eyes would be replaced with artificial eyes. Already, the operation had been successfully carried out by experts at the ophthalmology department of the hospital and the artificial eyes cost less and they are accessible any time the need arises,” Khalid said.
But Sadiq has a prayer for those that removed his eyes.
“Those who plucked my eyes, will have theirs plucked by God,” he said in Hausa. “Amin,” echoed his family members present.
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