Dear Hajiya Nuratu,
If there was any other way to reach you easily, I would have tried it but I know of no other means by which I can get your attention than by writing you publicly. Given the amount of red tape that goes into ministry activities, I know it will be a Herculean task to go to the ministry of defense and demand to see the Permanent Secretary. This is why I was left with no choice but to pen this open letter to you.
My joy knew no bounds, on February 20th this year, when I saw your picture, along with the Honourable Minister of defense and relatives of slain military men on the cover of Daily Trust. The photo caption said it was at the occasion of cheques presentation to next-of-kin of our fallen heroes. My joy was borne out of the fact that I had expected Malama Aisha Umar, mother of two fallen heroes from Kano, to be there. But she wasn’t nor was any of her relatives invited to represent her.
This was what I learnt when I enquired about her situation from our Kano-based reporter Lubabatu Inuwa. My attention was drawn to Aisha’s plight through a story published about her in the Daily Trust of December 28th last year. Like I said earlier Hajiya, my namesake lost not just one but two soldier sons to this insurgency.
And now she’s almost completely blind due to an eye ailment which she has been battling even before her sons’ deaths, but which she can no longer afford to treat due to her financial situation.
I am therefore appealing to you Hajiya Nuratu Batagarawa, in your position as the permanent secretary, ministry of defense and as a fellow female and a mother, to come to the aid of Malama Aisha Umar. Please put yourself in her place and know that losing two sons is a great tragedy, but becoming handicapped because you can’t afford the treatment you need makes things even worse.
Kindly do all in your power, to ensure that my namesake gets both her two sons terminal benefits as soon as possible.
Below is the full story of Aisha’s predicament, as published in the Daily Trust of December 28th 2019.
Mom goes blind after losing two soldier sons to insurgency
By Lubabatu I. Garba, (Kano) & Jamilu Adamu
To Malama Aisha Umar, the loss of her two breadwinner sons to Boko Haram left a mother without source for funds for medical care, leading to her loss of sight. Aisha, who is also called Indo, is one of the parents that lost their soldier children while fighting Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.
The 45-year-old woman now lives at her parent’s house in Unguwar Dandinshe in Dala Local Government Area of Kano State, where she is still looking for assistance on how to treat her eye problems. But before then, she was residing in Jaji Barracks in Kaduna State, where she raised her children, who like many other youths developed a love for the military and soon became soldiers.
Speaking with Daily Trust Saturday recently, she said: “Out of interest, my two sons Mubarak and Abubakar Hassan joined the Nigerian Army. Mubarak worked in Kaduna State, while Abubakar was in Abia State. After sometime, Mubarak was transferred to Maiduguri, in Borno State, where he stayed for two years before he became ill.
“We never knew until it worsened. Their Commander called me that we should come to see him but before we could do so, another call came that he was dead,” Aisha lamented. She said it was a heavy burden on her but the other son, Abubakar remained her consolation. “Abubakar used to always calm me down with his advice that every soul must taste the agony of death. He said that five times his name appeared to be transferred but that did not happen.” However, the transfer eventually came and Abubakar had to leave for Maiduguri. The mother said before Abubakar left, she prayed for him.
After four months, he came to visit her before leaving for the battle field again. Less than three months after, Abubakar and other soldiers were killed in a bomb blast at Sabon Garin Damboa, the Mother revealed.
She said, “Three days before his death, Abubakar called and asked me to lend him money before his salary was paid. We were trying to gather the money and send it to him before the news of his death filtered in. It was later confirmed by the authority.” She said she got N500,000 for the burial of her two sons but after that she has not received any funds again, even though the father has tried to pursue their benefits. “Their father met some army officers whom he knew and sought to process their terminal benefits, but till now we have not succeeded. Even recently, they called us from Abuja, but nothing has happened,” she noted.
This mother of the two fallen soldiers has yet another thing to contend with and that is her eyes. “I woke up and started feeling pain in my eyes with high fever, I decided to buy some drugs but after taking the drugs, my right eye became blind. I decided to visit a private hospital in Tudun Wada, Kaduna. The doctors confirmed that it was blood pressure that caused the blindness. Pain started in the other eye and I went to the National Eye Centre in Kaduna where I started collecting drugs,” Aisha said. She now struggles to buy drugs for N8,000 but with little improvement. She could not afford that and so, complete blindness set in and she was moved to her parents’ house in Kano.
“I have continued to take care of my life at the Mission (ECWA) eye hospital but any time I visit the hospital, I have to spend more than N10,000 because of the drugs,” she lamented. Aisha is appealing to military authorities and others for assistance, saying that since the time she lost her two children, her condition became critical because they were the ones helping out.
“My husband is poor and my parents can’t afford to buy the drugs for me. For now, I can’t also do anything for myself because of my situation. This is why I’m appealing to government and other agencies to assist me because recently we found that one hospital can fully treat the illness but I need the money to go there.” Aisha appealed.
Malama Aisha Umar’s number is 08142895361. May Almighty Allah enable you to assist Madame Permanent Secretary.
Thank you.
