SHADE SAMUEL NEEDS YOUR HELP

Since she was born, 12-year-old Shade Samuel has always been a very promising girl. Pretty, brilliant and imbued with a bundle of talents, she started dazzling her schoolmates since she turned three and began her elementary education.

She has always displayed uncommon brilliance so much so that one of her teachers nicknamed her ‘The professor.’ And at home, her parents were always comforted that Shade would eventually put their family name in a positive, prominent spot on the global pedestal.
That might not happen unless help comes very quickly. The brilliant girl recently had her two eyes shattered by bullets allegedly fired by some Boko Haram fighters in Maiduguri. And with that, the family’s lofty dreams are gradually turning into an unending nightmare.

All through her elementary school days in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, Shade always came out tops in her exams. She became a darling not only to her teachers but also to some parents who often sent their less brilliant children to her for coaching. At the Brilliant International Nursery/ Primary School, she became the toast of everyone. Last year, she carted home virtually all the prizes, becoming the overall best graduating pupil at the school’s prize giving ceremony.

By September that year, she gained admission to Bright Future Secondary School, Umurari, Maiduguri. Her parents were naturally happy that their only female child had commenced the journey of bringing immeasurable glory and succour to the family. The school’s principal even described her as exceptionally good at science subjects.
But that hope seems to have been shattered. On November 19, members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, allegedly pumped hot bullets into her and took sunshine off her life. It is like darkness in the dawn of her life. Little Shade’s life seems to have been irredeemably fractured at her childhood.

That fateful day, 42-year-old Samuel Oluwatoyin Abolarin, a patent medicine seller and Shade’s father, had closed for the day’s business at her Sabo Noba Street, which was just about 500 metres to his residence. He climbed into his Honda car along with Shade, who had retired to the shop after closing from school. But Samuel had barely put the car into motion when he heard a staccato of gunshots. He immediately jumped out of the vehicle and took to his heels, leaving the hapless Shade in the front seat of the car. Some of the bullets found their way into the car, hitting the girl from the jaw and moving up to the face. The bullets then hit her right eye, removing the socket.

Hear the distraught dad: “As soon as I jumped out of the car, running for my dear life, I heard my daughter shouting: ‘daddy, daddy, please do not leave me.’ And I looked back and said ‘won’t you also follow me?’
“After running for some time, I discovered that nobody was chasing me. So I immediately raced back to the car, only to find Shade lying on the car seat with her head buried in her palms. I pulled her up only to see that some bullets had hit her and popped out the socket of her right eye.

“Terrified, I immediately rushed her to the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital as it was about 7.30 in the evening. I sent for my wife, who came along with some of our neighbours but to my greatest surprise, some members of the Boko Haram sect still traced us to the hospital. “Sensing danger, the doctors at the hospital, after giving my daughter first aid treatment, suggested that we immediately leave the hospital for the safety of our lives. They referred us to the Ilorin Teaching Hospital for further treatment.

“So, I carried Shade and sat her down in the front seat of the car. Two of my sons, who accompanied us, sat at the back seat with the mother coming in another vehicle. But I had hardly moved 50 metres from the hospital when some Boko Haram members, who were obviously taking cover somewhere again released some volley of bullets on me.

“I was indeed their target but somehow, God again delivered me from their hands. Sadly, one of the bullets shot at me strayed to Shade again and hit her in the neck. From there, it pierced through her left eye and removed the second socket.”
Samuel, who broke down in tears while narrating his ordeal, however, said his two other sons at the back seat managed to escape assassination as they lay on the seat of the car immediately they heard the gunshots.

“That was how my agony started,” he told the reporter. “Since then, I have been going from one hospital to the other, all in a bid to save the life of my daughter. In fact, we have sold all we have and have borrowed so much that I have nobody to borrow from any longer. “My daughter is now going through hell in pains and agony and she seems to be dying gradually. The doctors at the University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State where we were finally referred to have said she needs to be flown abroad for surgery and they said this has to be done soon so that it would not affect her brain.

I am appealing to public-spirited individuals and organisations for financial assistance so that we can go for the surgery in India to save the life of my daughter. Doctors say we will need between N8 -10 million for the operation. Shade has been a promising child. She is the star of the family. She always comes first in her class and was the overall best when she passed out from the primary school last year,” he added.
When the reporter encountered the girl, Shade couldn’t speak for too long as she was passing through immense pains.

Said she: “I didn’t actually know what happened to me until something very sharp and painful hit me in the car. Since then, I have been in perpetual darkness and can no longer do anything. I cannot move around, I cannot go to school and my hope of becoming a medical doctor in future has been doomed. Please sir, help me tell our president and governors to help me. I am dying in pains.”
The ordeal has forced Samuel, who said he and his family had stayed in Maiduguri for over 20 years, to relocate to his village, Omi in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.

According to him, his parents, who had stayed in Maiduguri for over 40 years, had to relocate home three months ago when it was evident that they could not survive the Boko Haram onslaught.

He said he too was already contemplating moving his family to Kabba or somewhere close to his village when the unexpected happened. He enjoined public-spirited individuals to get in touch with him on 08038054425.-SUN