A Soldier Deserves Honor — Not Silence, Not a Mass Grave, Not Forgotten
The face I circled is not just a picture. That is my hood friend, Chigozie Omile. He was living in Ogidi with his family while I was staying in Nkpor. Whenever he came back from Maiduguri, he would always visit me. We would talk, laugh, and share stories. I didn’t know those visits would one day become memories.
He joined the military before me. I later followed the same path. From depot, he was deployed straight to Maiduguri and spent 4 years there, risking his life for this country.
After that, he was deployed to Calabar where he was serving, and later redeployed back to Maiduguri again. He was not supposed to be among the soldiers going for that deployment, but because he is Igbo his name still entered.
From what I heard from one of his brothers, he had just paid his wife’s bride price. She got pregnant around that same period. He was preparing to become a father. He was planning his future.
Then under attack, Chigozie Omile was killed.
His people went to his unit back in Calabar to ask about him. There was no proper accountability. No clear explanation. They were simply told the date the mass burial would be conducted.
He was buried in a mass burial at 7 Division cemetery without his family even identifying his dead body. No final goodbye. No confirmation. Just pain and silence.
Till today, the Nigerian government and military have not given clear answers about what truly happened to him. No transparency. No accountability.
His widow was left pregnant. His child will grow up never knowing his father. The family now carries the burden alone.
The Nigerian government and military owe his family the truth. Soldiers are not numbers to be buried quietly. They are human beings with names, families, and dreams.
Any Igbo person still serving as a soldier under Nigeria should understand what this means. You are gambling your life for politicians’ blood money and personal political interests.
Seeing this picture again makes the pain feel new. Some wounds never truly heal.
If you ever come here to ask me if someone forced him to join the military God will punish you 😡
Daniel Somtochukwu on X
@MikeArnoldTruth
#DivideNigeriaNowToSaveLives
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