…recount ordeal with children, send SOS to military authorities

By Peter Duru

THEY came out in their numbers to witness the last Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Makurdi and with much nostalgia managed to cheer the galant display of the military personnel on parade at the event.

This, before the demise of their spouses, was their constituency. They were wives of soldiers who lived in barracks across the country and still shared the fond memories of life in the barracks. But the death of the husbands have left them in bewildered and pondering how life has been so unkind and unfair to the women who managed the home front while their late husbands defended the nation in war fronts.

Today fate has dealt them the devastating blow of struggling for survival with their children. And according to them, their situation has been worsened by the failure and nonchalance of those whose responsibility it is to avail them the benefits accruable to the dependents of these former soldiers.

In their respective accounts to Arewa Voice, the widows in emotion-laden voices appealed to the military authorities to give them reasons to still relish every moment their husbands spent in the armed forces by ensuring the prompt payment of their benefits to augment their livelihoods and support their families.

They also appealed to the military authorities to put in place a scholarship scheme for children of the late ex-servicemen to assist in checking incidents of out of school children of the late service personnel.

For Mrs. Nsima Amos, a mother four from Akwa Ibom State, her late husband served at the Nigeria Army School of Military Engineers, NASME, Makurdi. She said: “My husband was a Master Warrant Officer, MWO, Emmanuel Amos. He died September 16, 2013 in active service during the crisis in Jos and life has not been easy with us since his death.

“Some of my children have finished school, and some are still in school. Our pain is that some of the entitlements we are supposed to get after my husband’s death have not been paid up till now. His group life insurance has not been paid. Nobody is telling us why we cannot get the entitlements almost eight years after his death.

“I have been going to Army Headquarters over the matter but they keep telling me to be patient, but life has been unbearable for us. Taking care of the children in the absence of my husband has been a herculean task.

“At the moment we live outside the barracks and I am doing a temporary job with the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi to support the children. I appeal to the military authorities to look into the cases of widows of late servicemen, ensure that entitlements are paid without delay as well as put in place a scheme that can help us train our children in school because some of our children are now dropping out of school because of lack money.”

On her part, Victoria, wife of the late Private Samuel Elijah said her late husband served the army for five years before he was killed in active service in an ambush by gunmen while on a trip with his then-boss. She said: “In 2012 he travelled with his Commander from Enugu to Abuja and on the way armed men attacked and killed him on that trip.

“We had three children before his death. Two of the children are in secondary school but I withdrew our last child from school because I cannot afford to pay her school fees. My first child is 15 years, the second is 13 while our last child is nine years. At the moment I live in an uncompleted building with my children. Life has not been fair to us but we are toiling on and we need help to carry on.”

Mrs. Grace Adah, a mother of seven children in her account said: “My late husband was in the 1978 set. My husband was Warrant Officer, WO, Adah Patrick who retired in 2013 and died March 2017. Since his death I have not received his entitlements. I went to Abuja severally for that reason but nothing has been done. Nobody is also giving me any reason why we must be subjected to this pain after my husband served his country meritoriously as an air force personnel.

“I am pleading with the military authorities to passionately look into our travail and ensure that we get the entitlement that should come to us after his death. Also our children are eager and interested to get enlisted into the force in order to help our families but it is almost impossible for them to get recruited. My children have tried severally to get enlisted but because we do not know anybody to help us they are never recruited.

“I am begging the authorities to do something in that regard. Aside removing the bottlenecks that delay the payment of entitlements, our children should be availed the right of first refusal whenever there is recruitment so that the interested ones can join the armed forces without hitches just like their fathers.”

Also, mother of four, Mrs. Patience Adejoh, recalled that her late husband, Sergeant Paul Adejoh, died in Maiduguri when her last child was two years and four months. She said: “My late husband died on July 10, 2014 in Maiduguri where he went for an operation. It is God that has been taking care of us since his death. I do petty trading to support my family but it can barely take care of the needs of my children and myself.

“Since his death we have been making efforts to get all his entitlements paid. His gratuity was paid but his life insurance is presently an issue. When we make efforts to have the military authorities pay us they keep telling us there is a problem while we continue to suffer. Our children are dropping out of school and feeding our families is also a major challenge, especially with the present economic downturn.

“I am pleading with the military authorities to help us because our husbands served the country well and those of us they left behind deserved to be treated better.”

Vanguard News Nigeria