A family member, who spoke with SaharaReporters on Saturday, said the attackers had earlier approached Endurance’s mother while she was working on the family farm.

A 15-year-old girl, Endurance Sabon, has been brutally attacked and had her hand cut after her family rejected a forced marriage proposal by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Goska community, Kaninkon Ward, Kafanchan, Jama’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A family member, who spoke with SaharaReporters on Saturday, said the attackers had earlier approached Endurance’s mother while she was working on the family farm.

They had demanded that the teenager be given to them in marriage.

According to the account, the incident occurred while Endurance, her mother and other relatives were farming at about 10am on Friday when the men approached them, praising the girl’s beauty and insisting she should be married to one of them.

“We were working on the farm from about 10 a.m. that day. My mother and my niece were together. While they were there, some fulani herdsmen approached them and started telling my mother to give them the young lady’s hand in marriage, saying she was very beautiful.

“My mother thought they were joking. They kept speaking in their dialect and repeatedly called the girl by name.”

After finishing their farm work later in the day, the family members waited for a motorcycle to take them home at about 6:30 p.m., unaware that the men had been trailing them through the bush.

“After they finished their farm work, they waited for an okada rider to take them home. That was around 6:30 p.m.

“Unknown to them, the men followed them, went through the bush, and set an ambush near the farm. As they were walking — four of them in total —.the attackers suddenly rushed them. The older women fell down, and the attackers shone a torchlight on one of them and realised she was not the girl they wanted,” the source explained.

The source explained that the attackers then allegedly searched again, identified Endurance, seized her and dragged her into the forest, where she was attacked and severely injured.

“They then searched again with the torchlight, found the young girl, grabbed her, and dragged her into the forest. There, they attacked her and inflicted a deep cut on her hand.”

Endurance was first taken to the General Hospital in Kafanchan before being referred to a private medical facility for emergency care.

The family source told SaharaReporters that due to the severity of her injuries, she has now been referred to the Jos University Teaching Hospital for further treatment, as the family appeals for urgent assistance.

“She was later referred from General Hospital, Kafanchan, to Joyce Hospital for treatment.”
The source said five suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack, adding that the group originally consisted of about nine men.

“Five persons were arrested. My mother knows them very well. Their houses are close to the farm,” the family member said.

The family is now calling on the Kaduna State Government and security agencies to intervene decisively, provide medical support for the victim and ensure that those arrested are prosecuted.

“We need help. The government should address the security situation in our community and assist with her medical bills,” the source said.

“Those arrested should not be released. The government should compensate the victim and ensure the perpetrators are punished so this will serve as a deterrent to others.”

The attack has heightened fears among residents of Goska community, who say insecurity and attacks linked to forced marriages and banditry remain a serious threat in the area.

Meanwhile, a brother of the victim’s family from Tudun Wada was attacked by Fulani herdsmen earlier this year, and his decomposed body was later found mutilated.