Teenager sitting for WASSCE dies as generator goes up in flames

One Mubarak Gidado, 16, who is siting for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, in Bauchi State, has been burnt to death while starting a generator.

It was gathered that Gidado was burnt to death while trying to start a generator which went up in flames.

The deceased was said to have given up the ghost at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in the State.

While recounting the event that led to the death of Mubarak, the deceased father, Aliyu Gidado, stated that his son, who was a final year student of FOMWAN Model Secondary School in the State, was burnt to death while trying to turn on a generator behind their house.

He said, “On Wednesday, April 22, at about 7pm, my son went to start the generator, but it went up in flames and fire consumed him. He was burnt from head to toe.”

All effort by medical personnel to save the deceased who was to sit for Mathematics the next day after the incident failed.

“The doctors gave him a 50-50 chance, but his condition grew worse and he was placed on life support machine but his heart failed and he gave up.”

The father of the deceased who expressed shock over the incident said the deceased has been putting on the generator for many years.

Aliyu noted, “As a father, you can’t quantify the 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 further disclosed that since the incident, his family has been receiving different sympathizers, including Mubaraks’s school mates and teachers.