Sa’idu Murtala, a garden egg vendor who resides in Filin Ball community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state, has explained how a Christian saved his life during an attack on Anguwan Rukuba community last Sunday.
The attack, which occurred around 7:50 p.m. on March 29, sent families fleeing as gunshots echoed across the community. Murtala said he was engaged with his customers, when the gunmen arrived in the area.
Top Society gathered that the gunmen arrived in the Gari Ya Waye community of Angwan Rukuba district and shot at people indiscriminately. A youth leader in the community told newsmen that the bandits moved from house to house, forcing doors open and shooting residents at close range.
His words, “Any door they saw, they would bang it and shoot. They walked freely until they passed into the next community or the bush.” Security personnel were said to have arrived nearly an hour later to restore order.
Narrating how he escaped death by the whiskers after been caught up, Murtala told Daily Trust that while everyone scampered for safety, a Christian in the vicinity opened his home and hid him in his wife’s room despite being aware he’s a Muslim.
“I used to do business around the Rukuba community. I used to sell garden eggs. Around 7:30, I told my friend Hassan, who used to sell sugarcane that it was already 7:30 and asked him when we were supposed to go home. He suggested we stay until 9 pm. The moment I turned to where I displayed my garden eggs to attend to customers, I started hearing gunshots.
“Everybody was looking for somewhere to hide. All of a sudden, a Christian man quickly opened his house and hid me inside. I completely lost my senses, thinking I would be killed because the situation was terrifying as people around were angry.
“He hid me in his wife’s room and asked his wife to bring food for me. He did everything to calm my mind. I spent the night in his house, and the following day he called my father, who later came and picked me up after the situation was okay.
“He knows I am a Muslim because I used to do my business there everyday and leave for my area. He knows my faith. My phone, which I gave to one Monday for charging, was also returned after the situation was calm. All of them know I am a Muslim. I will never forget this man who saved my life,” he said.
The garden egg seller said what the Christian man did for him had served as a lesson that he would live to remember, believing that there are good people everywhere you find yourself.
“It was a lesson to me, and that all persons cannot be the same. In both Christianity and Islam, there are good and bad people. But if all people were like this man who saved my life, the world would be at peace. I don’t have anything to pay him back, but I believe Allah will reward him for what he did. Allah would definitely open his doors,” he said.
Murtala, however, disclosed that his friend, Hassan who used to sell sugarcane is still missing as his phone number could not be reached.
