A grieving mother in Kano State, Northwest Nigeria, has accused authorities of St. Louis Secondary School, a boarding/day institution, of subjecting her 14-year-old daughter, Maimuna, popularly known as Hanil, to a punishment that resulted in her death.
In a viral video circulating on social media, the distraught woman broke down in tears as she narrated how her daughter, Nihal Usaman Shamaki, allegedly collapsed after being forced to kneel under the scorching sun for hours for failing to attend an early morning Muslim prayer session.
According to the mother, the incident occurred last Saturday when the teenager was allegedly ordered to kneel on a rocky surface from morning until evening as punishment for missing the prayer.
She claimed that despite repeatedly begging for water while enduring the punishment, her daughter was allegedly denied access to drinking water until she eventually collapsed.
“My daughter was pleading for water, but they refused to give her any,” the mother said while sobbing. “She later collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where a doctor pronounced her dead.”
The bereaved woman further alleged that school authorities initially concealed the true circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death.
“At first, I had resigned to fate when they lied to me about the circumstances of her demise,” she said. “But I prayed to God to expose what actually happened, and it’s now clear that my daughter was tortured to death.”
According to her, she was initially led to believe a different account of events until students who reportedly witnessed the incident came forward with information detailing what transpired.
She claimed eyewitnesses revealed that the deceased was subjected to the prolonged punishment under intense heat before she collapsed.
The mother also recounted her own ordeal on the day tragedy struck.
“That same Saturday, I was on admission receiving treatment when I received a call that my daughter had been admitted into an intensive care unit,” she said. “I had to jump out of my own sick bed and rush there.”
Maimuna, she added, was her first child and only daughter among three children.
“I have two boys. She was only 14 years old,” the grieving mother lamented.
The allegations have triggered outrage on social media, with many Nigerians demanding a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death and calling for those responsible to be held accountable if the claims are substantiated.
As of the time of filing this report, the management of St. Luis Secondary School in Kano State had not publicly responded to the allegations contained in the viral video.
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