Soldiers on United Nations peace-keeping operations

New York, Saturday, May 24, 2008---Information coming out of Nigeria indicate that about 46 Nigerian soldiers returning from six months United Nations peace-keeping operations in the Darfur region of Sudan had died due to ghastly road accident in Potiskum, Borno State, Nigeria, on Wednesday, May 21, 2008, barely 24 hours after their return. Among the confirmed death are a Captain and 45 soldiers of the Nigerian Army.

The ghastly accident, which also left five soldiers with severe injuries occurred on the Kari-Potiskum-Maiduguri highway, at about seven o’clock. The nation has been thrown into mourning with the accident being described by observers as the most fatal road crash involving the Nigerian Army since after the civil war.

The soldiers, who had just completed six months United Nations peace-keeping operations in the Darfur region of Sudan, met their untimely death when the truck conveying them to their units in Monguno, Borno State, ran into a petrol tanker and exploded.

The tragic truck was the sixth in the convoy of returning soldiers of the 245 Battalion who flew into the country just on Tuesday from Sudan.

Our investigation reveals that the soldiers actually took off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja enroute Monguno, Borno State.

They were being conveyed back to their units where they were to reunite with their families after being away for over six months and their kin who had already got the news of their arrival were in high spirits, making plans to receive them, when the tragedy occurred.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Lucas Yusuf, consoling wife of one of the dead soldiers during the burial of the forty-six soldiers who died in a road accident on at the Military Cemetery in Abuja.

The driver of the petrol tanker, who also got burnt to death along with another occupant, was believed to be heading for Maiduguri when the accident occurred.

According to Army sources, while the five other trucks which were ahead saw the petrol tanker and drove past it, the last truck in the convoy, conveying the deceased soldiers.

Occupants of the five other trucks, who rushed back to the scene of the incident watched helplessly as their colleagues were burnt to death.

Some of the soldiers, who immediately drove to Potiskum, which is about 45 minutes from the scene of the accident to get men of the state fire service to come to their rescue, met a brickwall as they were told none of the fire fighting trucks had diesel.

By the time they got back to the scene of the accident, their colleagues and other sympathizers had been able to put out the fire which raged for about two hours.
Investigation indicate that the Nigerian Army unit in Bauchi, which is one of the nearest to the scene of the accident, mobilized its soldiers to the scene of the accident, but by the time they got there, it was too late.

According to an eye witness account, “There was an explosion when the vehicles collided. It was a gory sight.”

The witness, who pleaded anonymity, said almost all the soldiers in the vehicle were burnt beyond recognition.

According to the officer, the 45 soldiers and captain could not be rescued due to the intensity of the fire, adding that the captain and two soldiers were the only ones that were recognized as the rest were burnt beyond recognition.

The charred bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the Bauchi State Specialist Hospital.

Soldiers cheered upon return from UN peace-keeping mission in Darfur, Sudan

There was also unconfirmed report that before taking off for their trip abroad late last year, the soldiers were also involved in a terrible accident on the way to the airport that claimed lives of three soldiers who were said to have died on the spot.

A press statement by the Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Brigadier-General Emeka Onwumaegbu on the tragedy reads: "The Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant-General L. N. Yusuf announces with grief the untimely death of one officer and 44 soldiers of the Nigerian Army who lost their lives last night in a motor accident along Bauchi-Potiskum Road. A petroleum tanker ran into the soldiers convoy. Their remains have been evacuated to the Bauchi Specialist Hospital mortuary while those injured are receiving treatment. These fine gallants of 245 Battalion were returning to their unit in Monguno, Borno State from Abuja where they arrived on Tuesday May 20th, after serving six months with the UN Peace-keeping mission in Sudan. The COAS, who has left Abuja this morning for the scene of the accident, extends his condolence to the family members and loved ones of these gallant soldiers. Meanwhile an investigation into the cause of the accident has been instituted.”

Names of the deceased officer and soldiers are:

Captain Albert Okojie,  WO Patrick Ogbudu, CPL  Sini Jaduwa, CPL Ali Ibrahim, CPL Michael Andache, CPL Golmang Kassem, CPL Hashimu Ibrahim, CPL Ahmed Mohammed, CPL Aba Tijjani, CPL Alhassan Salisu, CPL Tukur Abdulkadir, CPL Ta’u Mohammed, LCPL Bitrus Goni, LCPL Zingur Mallam, LCPL Garba Saidu, LCPL Hamidu Ibrahim, LCPL Alamu Wasiu, LCPL Sani Abdullahi, LCPL Hamza Garba, LCPL Bala Mohammed, LCPL Ahmed Sulieman, LCPL Sabo Isah, LCPL Chindu Salisu, LCPL Saleh Ahmad, LCPL Audu Mamman, LCPL Shehu Mohammed, LCPL Shehu Umar, LCPL Salisu Rabiu, LCPL Tanko Madaki, Trooper Sanga Joseph, Trooper Bassey Egbala, Trooper Dauda Saadu, Trooper Aduo Freeman, Trooper Sanusi Bello, Trooper Adamu Jeje, Trooper Usman Umaru, Trooper Abdullahi Dauda, Trooper Moses Orimogunje, Trooper Idris Shaibu, Trooper Mutala Garba, Trooper Richard Zittee, Trooper Kabiru Yaro, Trooper Olowu Abolade, Trooper Peter Ije, Trooper Akande Oluwagbemi, Trooper Bitrus Yusuf

Heroic burial and eulogies

State of Nigerian roads

The 46 soldiers were reportedly buried at the National military cemetery in Abuja on Friday, May 24, 2008.

During the burial ceremony of the dead soldiers, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua promised the families of the officer and 45 soldiers who lost their lives that he would mitigate the harsh effects of their death on them.

The president said: “This is indeed a tragedy of enormous proportions. It is made more heart rendering by the fact that these were courageous heroic soldiers who had just acquitted themselves commendably in their tour of duty in the challenging terrain of Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region.

“To return home and end in this way is a calamity that Nigeria, the military establishment and in a special sense, their families will find difficult to live with. However, we can find solace in the knowledge that they have paid the supreme price and sacrifice in gallant service not only to our fatherland but in the course of international peace and security and in the service of humanity.”

“We have an obligation to ensure that their sacrifice is not in vain by recommitting to successfully driving peace efforts in the Sudan and other troubled spots on our continent and beyond. My heart goes out to all the aggrieved families to these fallen heroes. I pray that the Almighty God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss to deal with the unfortunate passing of their loved ones.”

“I pledge that the Federal Government will do all that is necessary to mitigate the adverse effect of the demise of these gallant Nigerians on their families and their dependants.”

“As we bid our departed patriots a final farewell, let us all pray that our nation will never again be visited by a calamity of this proportion. May God in His infinite mercy give them final eternal rest in His own bosom and in His very presence,” he said.

In his remark, the Minister Defence, Yayale Ahmed, gave assurances that despite the deaths, the military is more than ready to render service to the country and the international community. “When we were informed of the deaths, we were shocked beyond words. Indeed for me personally, throughout my career as a public servant, I have never been so shocked with the news of death than this moment.”

“We were informed that these officers came back gallantly and with deepest sense of patriotism to continue serving their nation. God who created them, loves them most, therefore their time came for them to be nearer to Him.”

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoeye Azazi, also promised that everything will be done henceforth to motivate military personnel while alive and that those who lose their lives in the course of serving their nation, their families will be well catered for.

Azazi said: “This death is tragic for Nigerians and Nigeria. So many of us are affected by this tragedy and we are indeed in deep grief. The Holy Book tells us that there is time for everything. So, we take solace in the fact that there is a time for dying. This time of dying no one knows and could indeed be anytime for any us.”

“For soldiers the risk of dying becomes apparent when military operations are being conducted. These soldiers lying here today were exposed to such risk for six months in Darfur, but they all survived it. They returned to Nigeria safely and on the way to join their units. Just before their death, those Nigerians who had seen the convoy, saw that these soldiers were in very high spirits, singing, clapping and dancing. Obviously, they were happy to be back home.”

Executive Director of Africans In America, Inc., Bonaventure Ezekwenna, in his reaction stated, “They survived foreign enemies and murderers in Darfur, Sudan, but fell to homegrown enemies and murderers within Nigeria; and those enemies are the corrupt Nigerian leaders, past and present; so many blood are on their hands.”

“They survived the snipers, fanatics terrorists and fundamentalists bullets in Sudan, but fell to death traps established by ruthless, corrupt leaders and looters of Nigeria.”

“Now that both the ‘bloody’ civilians and the soldiers are sharing the same pains together, they might as well join forces with some progressive institutions in mass revolt against the corruption and mismanagement of public resources and funds.”

The price of corruption, mismanagement and bad leadership.

Crash site: wreckage of burnt petrol tanker

Poor Nigerian road commuters have been dying daily in tens and hundreds due to mishaps associated with very bad roads. However, very prominent Nigeria leaders, and government officials are also feeling the pains of corruption, mismanagement and bad leadership.
The late Major-General Abdulkarim Adisa, former Federal Minster of Works and Housing had died due to the same cause, as well. The fatal auto-crash that took the life of the Army General, it would be recalled occurred at a spot along the Ilorin Omu-Aran federal highway in February 2005.
Few months ago, Monday February 18, 2008 to be exact, the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Solomon Giwa-Amu died in an automobile accident.
The accident occurred while the Brigadier-General and Army Spokesman was traveling on Abuja-Kaduna highways in company with five other soldiers from Abuja to the Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.

Questions about the state of Nigerian roads and corruption of public officials

This accident and resultant deaths have once again raised questions about the state of Nigerian roads and what corruption had done to the oil-rich African nation’s infrastructures.

Nigeria made and is still making a lot of revenue from its huge oil deposit, but its leaders were so corrupt that they embezzled, siphoned and mismanaged the public fund leaving the public infrastructures, including local, state and federal highways in total disrepair and decay.
The infrastructural decay that started with the Army rule in Nigerian from 1966 continued within the very short time civilians ruled the African nation. Olusegun Obasanjo’s second coming to power from 1999 to 2007 had witnessed unprecedented corruption and mismanagement, and hence continued infrastructural decay.

Funds repeatedly ear-marked for road repairs which were repeatedly never executed nor accounted for; from the time of the Army rule, including period Army General Olusegun Obasanjo ruled Nigeria (1975 to 1979), to the time civilian President Olusegun Obasanjo again ruled Nigeria (from May 1999 to May 2007).

Official inquiries since Obasanjo left office are beginning to show the kind of rot and damages Nigerian leaders did to the nation; how public funds were siphoned away and shared by families, friends, associates and cronies; how huge contracts involving very large amount of money were awarded to non-existing companies.

Those are shame and national tragedies; those are humongous crimes against the state and people of Nigeria; those are some of the root causes of Nigeria problems.