In "In the Shadow of War," how has the Nigerian civil war touched Omovo's life?

Well, by the end of this excellent story it has very
definitely touched him through his exposure to violence and murder and other terrifying
activities that he has never been exposed to before. Consider what he witnesses when the
soldiers catch and abuse the veiled woman before killing
her:

The
bare-chested soldier pushed her. She fell on her face and lay still. The lights changed
over the forest and for the first time Omovo saw that the dead animals on teh river were
in fact the corpses of grown men. Their bodies were tangled with riverweed and their
eyes were bloated. Before he could react, he heard another scream. The woman was getting
up, with the vile in her hand. She turned to the fat soldier, drew herself to her
fullest height, and spat in his face. Waving the veil in the air, she began to howl
dementedly.

Consider what
Omovo witnesses. He discovers that the bodies on the riverside are actually those of
people, not animals, and also observes the way that the soldiers abuse and then shoot in
cold blood a woman who is only helping poor refugees from the war. Omovo observes many
things that force him to grow up very quickly and face the bloody and brutal realities
of civil war. His life is very definitely touched as a result.