Boko Haram fighters

By Adesina Wahab

The entire members of Wakil Family of Mogbelerin compound, Iwo, Osun State are now fervently praying for the safety of their son Olamilekan Remilekun Wakil, who was among those attacked by Boko Haram insurgents in an ambush last Monday.

Their apprehension is accentuated by the fact that it was barely 48 hours after he left them for his duty post that the news frittered in that his team had been attacked.

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Lekan, as he is fondly called, joined the Nigerian Army in 2016 after completing a course in Building Technology at the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke and became a non-commissioned officer in the military.

At least, that is a better way to serve his fatherland than becoming an internet fraudster that would dent the nation’s image.

When he was given a two-week break from the battlefront in Borno State late June, what was his top priority was to reconnect with his family members and friends. He surely did that, but no one, not even him, envisaged what was to follow after.

Lekan was among the Nigerian soldiers that were ambushed by Boko Haram insurgents last Monday in Borno State.

His cousin, Moshood Isamotu, a former journalist and banker, who brought his matter to public knowledge in a post on his Facebook wall, said after the attack on Lekan’s team, his whereabouts have remained unknown up until now.

He wrote: “Lekan, as popularly called, was on a two-week break from the war front which ended last Saturday, July 5. He was in Iwo for the holiday and stayed close with his parents and relived scary encounters with the Boko Haram beasts and several misses and escapes.

“The mother was worried that Lekan should not go back again. The love of a mother. But that would amount to absconding, he told her. On Saturday,  July 5, Lekan left for Maiduguri. On Friday, July 4, at the Jumat Service, her mum stayed long in the mosque to pray for her first son, who had chosen a profession where you are trained to kill. The mother said her spirit was “troubled” for her son’s safety. The father calmed the mother and urged her to continue her supplications.

“He got to Maiduguri safely on Sunday and that was even enough answered prayer. He called home and the parents were happy. They prayed for him again,” he wrote.

Later speaking on the phone with Sunday Vanguard, Isamotu said the family members got a call from some of Lekan’s colleagues who intimated them of the attack on Lekan’s team. “Lekan was part of a team that was sent to replenish the food stock of their colleagues in the war front and they were ambushed. Some of them were killed, some wounded and some are yet to be seen as we talk. His colleagues have tried repeatedly to get him on phone and it was only on Thursday that I was told a text message to his phone was replied. The reply was “I am coping.”

“Since his body was not among the corpses recovered, we don’t know whether he is in captivity of the insurgents or hiding somewhere. If he is somewhere hiding, he we hope he will get across to us soon. Now, we are praying seriously that he returns to us alive.

“Lekan is a promising guy and is yet to marry at 26. He studied Building Technology at Esa Oke Poly and graduated in 2016. He decided to join the Army immediately. He was said to have excelled at several pieces of training so well that he became a favourite for leading assaults against Boko Haram since 2016 with much success,” he said.

His relatives, friends and well-wishers are on their knees making supplications to the Almighty that Lekan is seen alive to later reunite with his family and live up to his middle name, Remilekun (console me) and be a consolation to his family.

Vanguard News