Two years after horrific attack left her scarred for life…‘Acid Bath Girl,’ all grown up, facing fresh troubles

It is now over two years since the return of Comfort Sunday from India where she received surgery for the acid burns she got from her father in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, about four years ago. She has grown into a woman and a mother, even as she faces difficulty feeding two mouths, all on her […]

It is now over two years since the return of Comfort Sunday from India where she received surgery for the acid burns she got from her father in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, about four years ago. She has grown into a woman and a mother, even as she faces difficulty feeding two mouths, all on her own. Weekly Trust visited her.

For the first time in three years, laughter, such that exposed her teeth, was some of what Comfort achieved in February of 2012 when she returned from India. For over two years now, that laughter has increased as she has long forgotten the veil that became a permanent companion of hers. She now mixes up with peers and new friends, with a smile that is hers. She dreams returning to the classroom someday to realise a longstanding dream, which remains unfulfilled. “Only God knows what will happen to that dream of mine,” she disclosed to Weekly Trust, even as she declared confidence that the Almighty.
From the last time Weekly Trust visited Comfort to the present, she has been put in the family way by a young man who does not support her or the 11-month-old baby, Destiny. At her father’s compound, she said of her son: “He is a lively boy, adding to the happiness I have after the surgery I received in India,” she said, adding that she hopes, above everything, that the child will receive good education. At present, his feeding comes from support given to her by a kind Nigerian who does not even know her, but only read about her plight.  
Samuel Enemuo lives in the US, but follows events back in his home country, Nigeria. He picked interest in Comfort’s helpless case when she could neither get justice over the inhuman treatment she received from her father, as well as full surgery to heal her of the scars of the horrific acid attack that left keloids on much of her face and upper body.
When Weekly Trust spoke to Enemuo by phone, he expressed sadness that Comfort has been abandoned to suffer. He also voiced displeasure that she did not receive full surgery before Nasarawa State government pulled out of her life and he promised Comfort will get full surgery in India when he is able to get someone who can coordinate the logistics. In addition, he promised: “I’ll take her out of that unkind environment, once I am able to secure a place for her. She needs a place where she will stay with people she can call family.” He said after that, “She will proceed to India to get full surgery.”
Also, Better Leven, the Akwanga-based NGO has been supporting her too. The organisation had picked up Comfort after the attack some four years ago and gave her care and tried to secure justice for her.
When Weekly Trust enquired about the father of her child, Comfort gave directions which led to Elkanah Nandu, 30, at a welder’s workshop along Keffi Road. He was a little nervous, at first, later finding confidence and opening up. “Yes, Comfort is my girlfriend. The child, Destiny, is my son,” he said, explaining that his failure to support mother and child was compelled by Comfort’s father, who drove him out of the family compound because he failed to observe traditional marital rites.
“[Comfort’s] father drove me out of their compound and it’s about three months now,” Nandu said, explaining that both his own parents had completed plans for the marital rites before his would-be father-in-law barred him from visiting. He added that he is ready to see his son when Comfort’s father’s anger dies down.
Comfort is always full of praise and gratitude to Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. He sponsored her medical sojourn to India in November 2011 where she received surgery that removed most of the keloidal scars that clung to her face and most of her upper trunk after the horrific May 2010 incident that she says she will never forget.
Dubbed ‘Acid Bath Girl’ by the media, Comfort was attacked by her own father, Sunday James, then 67, who emptied a can of acid on her face after he dragged her into an uncompleted building, near the family residence. The victim informed the police, who are still prosecuting the case at the Lafia Upper Area Court II.
The story goes that one of Comfort’s aunties, her father’s sister, sought spiritual intervention from an Abuja-based ‘pastor’ over deaths in the family. The pastor claimed he knew the cause of the deaths, accusing oblivious Comfort of witchcraft and being responsible for the deaths including her mother’s, whom she lost at the age of five.
Comfort had complained to the police that her father and his second wife had asked her severally to confess she was a witch. After some months of dragging with her, Comfort’s stepmother claimed the girl had confided to her that she was a witch, and was responsible for the said deaths. So her father invited her for a walk one morning, which ended in the uncompleted building where he splashed the corrosive substance on her. The young victim staggered, in great pain, screaming for help. Concerned neighbours rushed her to a nearby clinic.
James was arrested by the police after neighbours raised alarm, but he regained his freedom a few days later, and continues to walk free. Comfort was a young teen when the attack happened, with nobody assisting, except the Executive Director of the aforementioned NGO Better Leven, who took her into his family and cared for her.
But there were no funds for the NGO to sponsor Comfort for surgery, until the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, and Stepping Stone, a UK-based NGO, donated funds for her to get treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). But the funds were not enough to even begin the surgery.
A Weekly Trust story on Comfort and further appeals from the NGO attracted concern from Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, whose aides visited Akwanga and picked her to commence arrangement for an operation in India. But they came at a time Governor Al-Makura had completed arrangement to take her to India, in fulfilment of a promise he made in 2011. He accepted her from the NGO and handed her to his personal physician, Dr. Mohammed Usman Adis, who coordinated the trip to India.
The keloids on the rest of her body still stand out prominently, requiring more work. Help promised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) is yet to come, three years after. In spite of her problems and the cruelty dealt upon the young woman, Comfort insists she’s happy. “I have faith in God, that’s one thing even the acid could not – and cannot – destroy.”