On Lt. Col. Umusu: Letter to President Buhari
Odiriviroro Umusu Your Excellency, my name is Odiriviroro Umusu. I am the immediate younger brother of one of your officers, Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu, the Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force Battalion in Borno State, who was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in an ambush on Monday, December 12, 2016 on his way to […]
Odiriviroro Umusu
Your Excellency, my name is Odiriviroro Umusu. I am the immediate younger brother of one of your officers, Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu, the Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force Battalion in Borno State, who was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in an ambush on Monday, December 12, 2016 on his way to Baga in Borno State.
Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu dedicated his life to serving Nigeria from an early age: 1991 to 1996 at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria; 1996 to 1997, as a soldier serving with the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps; 1997 to 2002, at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, after which he was commissioned an officer in Infantry Corps; Served as an officer from 2002 to 2016 in Takum in the North East of Nigeria, Republic of Sierra Leone, Ibadan, the Niger Delta, Army Headquarters Abuja, Maiduguri – where he died in service to Nigeria, his country.
Your Excellency, if you are reading this, the name Umusu will ring a bell as my father, Brigadier General Sylvester Ugege Umusu, served under you and also worked with you when you headed the PTF. As I write this letter, with tears in my eyes, my father, my brother’s wife, Ufuoma Umusu and his siblings have not been contacted by you, your office, the Chief of Defence Staff or the Chief of Army Staff to offer your condolences for our loss. My brave brother sacrificed his life and future with his family to make yours and every Nigerian’s today safe.
In my humble opinion, we deserve your acknowledgement and appreciation and as a former army officer I know you appreciate the sacrifices involved in serving your country and it saddens me that for over 24 hours after the passing away of my brother, a call was not made to my family. I do not under any circumstances believe this is too much to ask for the fallen heroes of our beloved country, Nigeria.
My family has served Nigeria, and continues to do so. We have paid the greatest price for that service-the very young life of my beloved brother, Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu who was killed in action. As his family, we have lots of questions to ask surrounding his death: When will an investigation be carried out? Will there be an investigation? My brother bled out, why did his team not have the right equipment for such eventuality? What lessons can be learnt from this? What is being done to stop funding Boko Haram?
Every weapon, vehicle purchase or general equipment purchase by Boko Haram must leave a paper trail. Can the expert forensic accounting skills used by the EFCC not be employed to disrupt their operations? Your Excellency, you may deem this letter as disrespectful and not the right procedure in dealing with this matter, however, I am a Nigerian citizen grieving over the loss of my beloved brother and we deserve to know the who, what and why that led to the death of our brother on that terrible day. As the Commander-in-Chief, you are ultimately responsible for reaching out to all the families of our fallen heroes to assure them their loved ones did not die in vain. Thank you for your anticipated attention to this matter. Sincerely yours.
Umusu wrote in from Abuja.