Promise Gideon Ayuba was among 28 people killed in Angwa Rukuba, Jos North Local Government Area, on March 29, 2026, during a terrorist attack on Palm Sunday. His mother, Mrs Favour Ayuba, delivered a heart-wrenching monologue at his burial, speaking directly to his corpse. "Baby, today is my birthday. And am grateful," she said. "Since Sunday I haven't eaten, you didn't give me food to eat but from today I promise you I will eat." She named him Promise Gideon Ayuba, invoking the biblical Gideon, a victorious warrior, and urged her son to avenge his own death. "Baby avenge for me. I had you in my stomach for 9 months Baby, you suckled my breast Baby," she pleaded.
Mrs Ayuba's public mourning defied cultural norms, as she clung to her son's remains and rejected passive grief. Her words highlighted the collapse of state protection and the emotional toll on families of victims. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with victims' representatives at the airport for 10 minutes, promising humanitarian aid and surveillance cameras. The response, however, was seen as inadequate, with political figures dominating the dialogue over actual victims.
Mrs Favour Ayuba handing a spiritual cutlass of vengeance to her dead son speaks louder than any official statement from Aso Rock. Her grief exposes the vacuum of justice under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's watch — where promises are made in minutes and broken in months. When a mother sends her child to war from beyond the grave, it is not faith that fills her voice, but the sound of abandonment.
