Residents of Albarkawa, Gusau, Zamfara state, were on Sunday thrown into a state of bewilderment after a 17-year-old girl set herself ablaze because of her fiance’s inability to pay for the N17,000 dowry demanded by her father.
The girl, Aisha was said to have decided to commit suicide after she learned that her fiancé, Umar, who dated her for quite a long time, has no money to pay for dowry in preparation for her wedding.
The girl’s neighbour was quoted as saying: “She brought a gallon of petrol and a matchbox. She got her self drenched in the petrol and struck a match stick and within a second she got engulfed in flames.”
It was reported that before setting her self ablaze, her younger sister had tried hard to stop her from taking the dangerous decision by flinging the matchbox from her hand as any time she attempted to strike the matches the younger sister would stop her until when she became tired of stopping and went away.
The girl then ran outside the house screaming for help until some good Samaritans arrived and put out the raging flames tormenting her.
The girl’s father said he had no money to take her to the hospital as he could only boast of N750 at the time the incident happened.”
Aisha is now being treated with Orthodox and other traditional medicines at home.
