The Learner

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 (Twitter) Many people welcome April with playful pranks, but since 2012, the family and friends of Alhaji Muhammad Lawan (Alhaji Abba) of Gwale LGA, Kano, remember it differently. On 1 April that year, tragedy befell the family when his 20-year-old daughter, A’isha, was killed just weeks before her wedding. This is the first written tribute I have paid to anyone’s life. This is not because no one significant has died before—I have lost my mother, an elder brother, a sister, and others deeply dear to me. I miss them profoundly and never forget to beseech Allah to have mercy on their souls. However, A’isha’s death was unique because of how unnatural and preventable it was. Her murder demonstrates the uncertainty Nigerians live with daily, especially during the turbulent period of Boko Haram attacks. Whilst soldiers deployed as Joint Task Forces (JTF) were meant to protect civilians, they sometimes became predators themselves, incompetently and freely...