Juliana Francis
At an age when most of his age mates were still in tertiary schools, burning the midnight candle, 22-year-old Hassan Amadu, has become a seasoned kidnapper and armed robber. He’s presently being held for murder.
MY CONFESSION
My father sent me out of the house when I was 15 years old, to go and learn how to rear cows from one Alhaji Sani. Although my father is also a farmer, he preferred to send me out because he has so many sons.
The agreement was that at the end of each year, the man that I was serving would give me give some cows to start life. That was how I was expected to continue until I had enough cattle to start my own cattle farm.
It was in the bush that I met Haruna and we became friends. He gave me an idea on how to make my own money. He told me that Alhaji Sani was very rich and has so many cows, that he wouldn’t notice if one goes missing. I started like that by leaving one behind every month, whenever I take them out for feeding. Haruna would come back to where I left the cow, to collect and sell it. This worked for me till Alhaji Sani discovered that his cows were missing and sent most of us away. I told Haruna my plight and he urged me to come and work with him. This was how we started stealing cows and gradually Haruna introduced me to robbery and kidnapping. Another of my friend, Ibrahim, is part of our gang. He brought information about a person that we should kill.
First Published 2020.