Nigerian writer, Richard Henshaw, has taken to social media to share the story of a young boy who was used to innocently defraud a shop owner in Lagos.<\/p>\n
\n
Just about three hours ago, a little boy got into the bleakest nightmare of his life\u2026Twelve years of age.A minor.<\/p>\n
I heard pandemonium from where I was.<\/p>\n
Treated it with reckless abandon from the start.<\/p>\n
But it persisted.<\/p>\n
And I reckoned that something was wrong.<\/p>\n
I went out to look.<\/p>\n
A crowd had gathered in a shop.<\/p>\n
Screams and tears wafting out from the scene.<\/p>\n
I walked over there.<\/p>\n
And I met this little boy in tears.<\/p>\n
Manhandled by the crowd.<\/p>\n
I asked what had happened.<\/p>\n
The boy who was at the shop narrated.<\/p>\n
One boy came to their shop and told him he wanted two bags of rice.<\/p>\n
Then he gave him a phone to speak with someone who said she was the boy\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
And the woman said she was sending his money to him immediately, that he should allow her son bring the bags of rice.<\/p>\n
Then the bigger boy said that his younger brother would wait behind while he went to bring the money.<\/p>\n
He left the little boy behind and went with the two bags of rice on a bike.<\/p>\n
The shop boy waited for a prolonged time, then became perturbed.<\/p>\n
He then turned to the little boy and asked, \u201cWhy is your brother taking so much time na?\u201d<\/p>\n
And the little boy replied, \u201cHe\u2019s not my brother oo. I don\u2019t know him before. He just met me on the road and brought me here\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The shop boy\u2019s eyes raised in alarm.<\/p>\n
He held the boy.<\/p>\n
His voice alerted a crowd.<\/p>\n
The crowd descended on the boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a little criminal. Where did your friend take the bags of rice to?\u201d They screamed at him.<\/p>\n
Slaps.<\/p>\n
Hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear I don\u2019t know the boy,\u201d the boy wept.<\/p>\n
When I arrived, I dragged the boy aside and had a conversation with him.<\/p>\n
And he said, \u201cOga, I swear I no know that boy. I pick cartons on the streets and sell them, that\u2019s how I take dey get money. So today I been dey street and I was thirsty, so I come see the boy and ask him make him help me with water. The boy promise to give me water, but say make I follow am. He then said that anywhere we go make I dey claim say I be him brother. So we enter bike and he brought me here. He then collect two bags of rice from here and say make I wait behind that him want go bring money come. And na so him go and no come back, and leave me here\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
It was hard to comprehend this.<\/p>\n
How someone could see a minor on the street, cajoled him to follow him.<\/p>\n
Played on his little senses.<\/p>\n
Exploited his circumstances.<\/p>\n
Took him to a shop.<\/p>\n
Duped the shop owner of his goods.<\/p>\n
Kept the boy behind, and told the shop owner that the boy was his brother.<\/p>\n
Then disappeared with the goods.<\/p>\n
And left the boy behind to face the consequences.<\/p>\n
And put his life in danger.<\/p>\n
In an embittered city like Lagos.<\/p>\n
The shop owner was called on phone to come back.<\/p>\n
He ran back to his shop and heard the news.<\/p>\n
Felling diatribes on his boy in the shop for falling for such a scam.<\/p>\n
And the nameless crowd was struck by anger propaganda.<\/p>\n
Eager to descend on the boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d I asked the minor.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow old are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwelve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did that boy see you and bring you here?\u201d<\/p>\n
He muttered some gibberish.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know the boy\u2019s house?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you met the boy before?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. But while we were coming here he pointed to one shop and told me that that is his mother\u2019s shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo can you take us to that shop?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBros, this boy na small criminal. This boy know that boy. They are together.\u201d Some said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was used,\u201d others said. \u201cMaybe he doesn\u2019t know anything about it. Maybe that boy just saw him and decided to use him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in that case it was difficult to know which one was true.<\/p>\n
Then a friend brought his vehicle immediately, and both of us alongside the shop owner took the boy away to go and make efforts to find the boy.<\/p>\n
Away from the attacks of the angry crowd.<\/p>\n
To go to the shop which the minor said the boy had pointed at, and claimed to be his mother\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n
And as we set off, we discovered that the little boy had been used.<\/p>\n
He had actually been used.<\/p>\n
You look at this and you wonder, what if that boy had taken this little boy to an environment where he would not be able to come out alive?<\/p>\n
What if there were no people to save him?<\/p>\n
He could have died in a show of savagery because of two bags of rice.<\/p>\n
A scheme from someone he didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
A claim that so many people didn\u2019t believe anyway.<\/p>\n
And in that little boy\u2019s nightmares, I saw the true picture of our society.<\/p>\n
In all its irony.<\/p>\n
And.<\/p>\n
Metaphor.<\/p>\n
I saw the mechanical disregard for humanity.<\/p>\n
The reckless abandonment of innocence.<\/p>\n
Stay woke.<\/p>\n
Stay safe even in an insane world.<\/p>\n
Lagos!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5dee9bd152820.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigerian writer, Richard Henshaw, has taken to social media to share the story of a young boy who was used to innocently defraud a shop owner in Lagos. Just about three hours ago, a little boy got into the bleakest nightmare of his life\u2026Twelve years of age.A minor. I heard pandemonium from where I was. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":761934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-761933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nollywood"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Just about three hours ago, a little boy got into the bleakest nightmare of his life\u2026Twelve years of age.A minor. I heard pandemonium from where I was. 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