Bride drowns in well on wedding day

A bride, Fatima Abubakar, on Thursday fell inside a well and drowned while preparing for her wedding ceremony.

The accident happened in Gajaja community in Danbatta Local Government Area of Kano State.

Fatima, 16, visited her cosmetologist on Thursday morning, the day of her wedding, her father said.

The accident happened at the home of the cosmetologist, who is also the victim’s sister.

The father of the deceased, Mr Abubakar, told BBC Hausa Service that the wedding was billed to hold today.

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He didn’t provide details of how Fatima fell into the well but described it as an accident.

Mr Abubakar said Fatima loved her husband to be. He said his house is now filled with relatives and friends who came to witness the wedding but instead mourned the death of the bride.

‘Now we are pleading with Hajiya Lami (the cosmetologist) whom the incident occurred at her residence. She is also a sister to the late bride. She is unconscious and unable to eat,” Mr Abubakar said.

A younger brother to the deceased, Labaran, said late Fatima and her parents were residents of Babura local government in Jigawa State, but decided to hold the wedding at Danbatta in neighbouring Kano State.

Although Nigeria’s child rights law makes marriage to anyone below 18 illegal, Kano is one of the many Northern Nigerian states yet to domesticate the law.

Child marriage is common in places like Kano due to cultural and religious beliefs.