Friends of Yunusa, the 18-year-old man that whisked
14-year-old Ese Oruru away to Kano from Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital,
have appealed to the Federal Government to forgive their workmate.
Yunusa’s friends, who were seen around the stall on Michael
Street, Opolu, where they usually gather before and after everyday’s work,
described the action of the Kano-born commercial tricycle operator as
condemnable.
One of Yunusa’s close friends, Ibrahim Mohammed, who said he
was not aware that his friend had planned to elope with Ese, urged government
to consider Yunusa’s age (18), warn him and allow him to go.
Mohammed explained that all of them, together with Yunusa,
usually bought food from Ese’s mother and had noticed that his friend and Ese
were in good terms.
“We always buy food from Ese’s mother and I know that Yunusa
and Ese are friends, but I never knew that Yunusa was planning to take her to
Kano.
“Everybody has said that what Yunusa did was bad. But
government should forgive him. He is just an 18-year-old boy, who did not know
how serious the offence is. Please, government should consider his age and
forgive him,” Mohammed pleaded.
Similarly, Sani Adamu, who told Saturday Punch that he had
once worked with Yunusa as a loader, described his friend as an easy-going
fellow, adding that nobody would have agreed that he (Yunusa) could kidnap a
girl and take her to Kano.
Adamu added that since Yunusa must have learnt a lesson from
the entire saga, the best option was for the government and Ese’s parents to
pardon him.
“Yunusa did a bad thing because a good person will not carry
this girl to Kano without telling her parents. If you want to marry a woman,
the first thing you do is to inform the parents. I know Yinusa; we work
together as loaders.
“We also ride on the road (operate commercial tricycle) and
do other small jobs (menial). Yunusa has been here in Yenagoa for six years. He
is 18 years old. I appeal to government to forget this matter and forgive
Yunusa, my friend. We are both from Kano, but we are not from the same
village,” he said.
Another close ally to Yunusa, Mohammed Zakari, told newsmen
that he would not have committed the same crime like his friend because he
already had a wife.
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