Today marks exactly one week since the death of 11 military personnel in an air crash in Kaduna. Those killed in the ill-fated incident included the Chief of Army Staff Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru, Brig-General Mohammed Idris Abdulkadir, Brig-General Olatunji Olayinka, Brig-General Abdulrahman Kuliya, Major Lawal Aliyu Hayat and Major Nura Hamza.
Others were Flight-Lieutenant Alfred Ayodeji Olufade, Flight-Lieutenant Taiwo Olufemi Asaniyi, Sergeant Umar Saidu Dass, Sergeant Adesina Opeyemi Isaiah and Aircraftman Oyedepo Matthew.
Kaduna, reputed as the state with the highest number of military facilities in Nigeria, was dear to at least four of the deceased persons. Indeed, for them, Kaduna was not just the state where they were commissioned into the military, it was also home!
Perhaps this explains the presence – and weeping – of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai at the National Military Cemetery during the burial of the military personnel.
Dateline Nigeria visited the Kaduna family houses of the late Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, Brig-General Mohammed Idris Abdulkadir, Major Nura Hamza, and Major Lawal Aliyu Hayat.
1. Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru
Tellingly, the visit by our reporter to the family residence of the late COAS on Wednesday coincided with that of the Commandant of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) Maj Gen Sagir Yaro, along with many other officers.
The Attahiru family house, where the late Army chief was born on 10 August 1966, is located on Abuja road, just before the Lagos street roundabout in Kaduna. It is also a walking distance from the headquarters of the Kaduna North Local Government, where he was an indigene.
Maj Gen Yaro and his entourage were received by family members of the late COAS, including his elder brother Malam Shehu as well as some childhood friends, some of whom attended the same secondary school – Rimi College, Kaduna – with him.
The late Attahiru was married to Fatima, a daughter of famous Kaduna businessman Alhaji Bawa Garba, popularly known as ABG. They had three daughters together.
“What makes this death very touching was the fact that the late Army Chief had planned to meet with family members and friends he had not seen since his emergence as the COAS. But the Almighty Allah had decreed otherwise,” a family member told our reporter.
Dateline Nigeria also learnt that the late COAS lost both parents at an early age. The Attahiru family traces its roots to Taraba State.
2. Brigadier-General Mohammed I. Abdulkadir
Late Brig-Gen Mohammed Idris Abdulkadir, who was the Chief of Staff to Lt-Gen Attahiru Ibrahim, was also born in Kaduna on 19 April 1971.
His grandfather was said to among the early residents of Kaduna, having arrived there in 1917 and made it a base. He came from Baro coastal town in today’s Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.
Dateline Nigeria visited Abdulkadir’s grandfather’s house located on Benin Street and his parent’s house in Unguwar Sanusi, both in Kaduna metropolis, where family members and neighbours were still mourning.
The deceased officer was commissioned into the Nigerian Army on September 16, 1995, and rose to the position of Brigadier General on August 17, 2017.
The late Abdulkadir was also married, Dateline Nigeria learnt, was very close to the people and went extra-mile to help people.
3. Major Lawal Aliyu Hayat
Major Hayat, the Aide De Camp (ADC) to Attahiru, was born in Kaduna on 11 April, 1985 and hailed from Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
He grew up around the Sardauna Memorial College (SMC) quarters in Unguwar Dosa and went to Command Day Secondary School Kaduna, where he was very popular.
According to his mates, Hayat had shown his love for the military right from his secondary school days as he was a part of the student cadets.
He was eventually commissioned into the Army as a Second Lieutenant on October 4, 2008. Some nine years later, he rose to the rank of Major on 27 September, 2017.
“When he ended up joining the military, it didn’t come to us as a surprise. In fact it would have been the other way round if he hadn’t. He was a smart fellow and highly disciplined,” said one his mates that gave his name simply as Suleiman.
Late Lawal Hayat got married in 2016.
4. Major Nura Hamza
Major Nura Hamza was born on 20 November, 1979 in Kano and hailed from Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State. However, he had his formative years in Kawo community of Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna.
A graduate of Bayero University Kano in 2003, Hamza was commissioned on December 2, 2006 as a Lieutenant (short service) and became a Captain on February 2, 2011. He became a Major in December in 2015 and was acting Deputy Director of Finance.
Prior to enlisting in the Army, he was known as Nura Kwano. He was also at one point a tailor and participated in community programmes. Their family house is located on Kawo road, while his residence was at the neighbouring Unguwar Dosa, near the Legislative Quarters.
Right now, the late military officer had built a standard hospital – Kawo Islamic Hospital – with at least two annexes within the community where residents receive treatment at a subsidized rate.
“When the biggest was built recently, for a month, people were treated free of charge,” Hajiya Halima, a beneficiary said, adding that the late officer usually involved community leaders in the running of the facilities so that the community will feel a sense of ownership.
Indeed, Major Hamza had planned to use his visit to distribute school uniform and books at Salim School in Kaduna to the new intakes who are orphans.
When the news of Major Nura Hamza’s death reached the people of Kawo, they all went into collective mourning, and the following mourning, the residents converged at the central mosque to observe Salatil Ghaib (absentee funeral prayer) for him.
Nura is survived by two wives and eight children. The first wife has three boys and three girls, while the second wife has a boy and a girl.
Addendum
Dateline Nigeria learnt that even among the men that died in the air crash, Sergeant Umar Saidu Dass, who was Orderly to the COAS, lived in Kaduna, but hailed from Bauchi State. Sergeant Adesina Opeyemi Isaiah was also born in Kaduna. As for the Aircraftman Oyedepo Matthew, he had his basic military training at the Military Training Centre in Kaduna, but was born in Osun state.
