The selfish decision by former military ruler, Mr. Ibrahim Babangida, to offer prayers only at the graveside of his former aide de camp (ADC), Maj. General Nuhu Bamali at the burial of officers who died in an air crash has drawn the anger of widows of the other officers.
Babangida and his aides had quietly walked to the grave of Bamali and offered prayers and left the cemetery almost immediately.
But widows of the rest of the victims who felt ignored in their grief by the former president told Sunday Sun they were shocked by the action which they said was indicative of Babangida’s indifference.
"We had expected the former president, who was also a general in the Nigerian Army and a Commander-in-Chief to have at least visited other graves apart from that of his (former) ADC, or even pay his condolences to us over our losses, even if our husbands were his enemies," one of them said.
A serving general, who craved anonymity, also faulted the former president’s action saying: "Even though Babangida had a good personal relationship with the late Bamali and had a sour one with the rest of the officers, he should have visited the graves of other officers for the sake of the Nigerian Army, where he rose to become a general and a head of state, especially when the Army is known to be one big family."
The widows, including some wives of victims of the C-130 crash of 1992 who come to sympathize with the wives of the dead officers said to have been course mates with their own husbands at the Nigerian Defence Academy, described IBB’s action as unexpected of a statesman.
One of the widows, who spoke to Sunday Sun on the condition of anonymity said: "What General Babangida did here today goes a long to show his hatred for the poor and the nobodies of this country. What he has done today shows that our husbands were woods, and not human beings. It also shows his hatred for the Nigerian Army and some of us lost our husbands when he was president. If not for God, we also would have died from poverty."
