Murdered Naval Seaman’s Burial: FOB Chief Ignores NHQ Order

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

Whereas it is no longer news that an operative of the Nigerian Navy (NN), LS Solomon was murdered in cold blood by LS Akila, a colleague and unit mate since October 24, 2024, by far the saddest news is the insensitive and tardy manner the naval authority has treated the memory of the dead seaman.

After an apparent initial attempt to have Solomon buried at Dansadau, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State where he was killed while serving with Operation Sheto Yanma, a unit of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Zamfara State, Pinnacle Time can report authoritatively that the late seaman’s dead body is still lying at the Yerima Bakura Specialist Hospital morgue at Gusau, one full month after he was wasted in controversial circumstances.

It will be recalled that while the naval authority had planned initially to have the dead officer buried in Dansadau obviously for inexplicable reasons, the family, it was learnt vehemently opposed the idea and insisted his remains be returned to Lagos for burial in his house or family compound.

Reliable sources inform that the dead officer’s relatives who flew in from the South West were not even allowed to view the corpse, despite all appeals.

Stunned, the family also flatly refused to have anything to do with the burial in Zamfara going by the NN arrangement, two weeks into the incident. Afterwards, all pleas by the relatives to have the body released to them for burial at home were believed to have been flatly rejected by the naval authority.

However, checks at the weekend revealed that whereas the Naval Headquarters had directed that LS Solomon’s corpse be transported to Lagos for burial at one of its cemeteries, the order was allegedly truncated by the Zamfara FOB Officer, whose name was given simply as Aliu.

More digging by our reporter revealed that the Base Officer brushed aside request by assigned personnel to get him to sign the relevant papers relating to the release of the corpse and its outward movement to Lagos, on the ground that “he was not in the mood.”

Further checks revealed that whereas the FOC West had in accordance with the NHQ directive, made all preparations ahead of the burial for November 14, 2024,  the event did not hold because Aliu who is in charge of FOC Zamfara allegedly refused to play his assigned role.

Amid this official defiance and rigmarole, Pinnacle Time learnt that the FOC Zamfara is asking the late operative’s next of kin saddled with the care of the three children Solomon left behind to come to Zamfara again, after the initial family visit when the incident occurred.

While the reasons for the belated invitation by the navy authority is unclear, the obvious implications is the semblance of breakdown of military order and discipline in the system, and secondly, obvious lack of empathy for a grieving and already traumatized family of the late seaman by the institution.

The memo containing the directive for the burial of late officer scheduled for November 14, 2024 given under the authority of the NHQ which was sighted by our reporter was signed by R ADM, NM Madugu.

Efforts to clarify developments and get the reaction of the naval authority with regards to the failed memo by the NHQ proved abortive as the Director of Naval Information, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams- Aliu did not pick the telephone call made to him by our reporter.

He did not also respond to a text message sent to him regarding the issue as at the time of this publication.

Meanwhile, nothing has been heard from the relevant authorities regarding the investigation of the shooting which led to the untimely death of Solomon, despite promise by the Defence Headquarters to institute a probe and make its finding known to the public.