A NIGERIAN boy was shot dead by his older brother with their father’s rifle while testing a newly bought ‘bullet-proof charm.’
A report by the British Daily Mail newspaper says their father, a hunter, had just got the ‘protective’ charm and had allegedly wanted to test it on his sons Abubakar and Yusuf, 12, to check how effective it was.
According to police in Kwara state, the brothers believed that they had fortified themselves with it, the report said.
It is claimed that while the brothers were testing it on Sunday, Abubakar allegedly shot his younger brother Yusuf dead with the rifle, known as a dane gun and he dropped to the ground.
The elder brother fled into the bush after he allegedly realised that the charm had failed and his younger brother was dead.
It is not clear why the two brothers went to get protection.
In the aftermath of the shooting, officers are hunting for the alleged killer. Officers have urged parents to monitor their children and their activities.
Some people in Nigeria use charms for protection against bad luck. After testing ‘bullet-proof’ charms and medicines, there have been reports of several people being killed.
In July 2018, a traditional healer died in Nigeria after one of his clients tested his ‘bullet-proof’ charms on him.
The 26-year-old, Chinaka Adoezuwe, was wearing the charms around his neck and died after he told the man to shoot him.
Officers said at the time that the client had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The Nigerian Punch newspaper reported that a villager said: ‘A young man had gone to [the healer] to prepare bullet-proof charms for him, which the native doctor did.
‘To prove the efficacy of the new charms, [he] positioned and handed over a gun to his customer. Tragedy struck.’
Another incident happened when in January of that same year, a man who drank a ‘bullet-repelling’ liquid was shot dead.
The medicine seller who gave it to him was arrested and had allegedly told him he could not die if he was shot.
In January, a traditional medicine seller was arrested after a man drank a ‘bullet-repelling’ liquid and was shot dead.
