by Chinwe Okafor

A teenager sitting for the West African Schools Certificate Examinations (WASCE) in Bauchi died of severe burns after trying to start a generator set which went up in flames.

According to reports by Vanguard, Mubarak Aliyu Gidado, 16, was rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching (ABTUTH) where he died two days later as a result of the injuries he sustained from the incident.

The father, Aliyu Mohammed Gidado, said his son was an SSS III student and was trying to start the generator in the back of their house for the impending exam when the accident occurred.

He said: “Yesterday around 7 pm after evening prayer my son went to start the generator. The fuel just ignited fire and the flames consumed him as he struggled. He came out of the area but his body was burnt from head to toe.”

According to his father, all efforts to save his son proved abortive. “The doctors gave him a 50-50 chance but his conditioned worsen and he was placed on life support machine but his heart failed and he gave up,” Gidado said.

It came most shockingly surprising as this act isn’t new to the teenager who has been assisting with putting on the generator in the house, “As a father you can’t quantify grief of losing a child. It is God that gives and takes and we cannot question him. “I thank God for Mubarak’s life. He was an obedient child. He wanted to study Computer Science but now he is no more.

“He was a good child. The whole Islamic School students and teachers came to my house to sympathise with me on learning of his death. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.