17-year-old girl sets herself ablaze over fiance?s inability to pay N17,000 dowry demanded by her father

A 17-year-old girl identified as Aisha living in Albarkawa area in Gusau metropolis in Zamfara state on Sunday August 8, set her self ablaze owing to her fiance’s inability to marry her due to his poor finances.

Aisha’s neighbour told Daily Trust that she decided to commit suicide after she learnt that her fiance who dated her for quite a long time has no money to pay for dowry in preparation for her wedding.


He said her lover called Umar was asked by her parent to present himself to her family for the marital engagement but the young man told her parent that he was not financially well off to pay for the N17,000 as dowry demanded by the father of the girl.

“She brought a gallon of petrol and a matchbox. She got her self drenched in the petrol and struck a match stick and within a second she got engulfed in flames.Even before setting her self ablaze, her younger sister had tried hard to stop her from taking the dangerous decision by flinging the matchbox from her hand as any time she attempted to strike the matches the younger sister would stop her until when she became tired of stopping and went away.”

“The girl then ran outside the house screaming for help until some good Samaritans arrived and put out the raging flames tormenting her. The girl’s father said he had no money to take her to the hospital as he could only boast of N750 at the time the incident happened,” he said.



Aisha who was severely burnt is being treated with Orthodox and other traditional medicines at home.