Buhari Have Abandoned us After Our Husbands Died Fighting Boko Haram

Widows of some soldiers killed during fights with insurgents
in Borno State have said about two months after they told
wives of service chiefs and that of the Inspector-General of
Police (IGP) during their visit to the state about the shoddy
treatment they are receiving from authorities after the
deaths of their husbands, nothing has changed.
Wife of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Mrs. Omobolanle
Olonishakin, who led the team told the widows that she will
never let her husband rest until the issues raised by the
widows are fully addressed. But the Coordinator of a Non-
Governmental Organization (NGO), New Hope for Widows,
Mrs. Fatime Al-Hussein said several weeks after the visit by
the wives of the service chiefs, the conditions of the widows
remain the same. "I spoke to a good number of the widows,
and they say nothing has changed since then."
Earlier, during their visit to the state, the wives of the
service chiefs visited injured soldiers in hospitals, donated
items, and commiserated with them and prayed for their
speedy recovery before proceeding to the Social Center of
the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army where they met the
widows. Addressing them after donating wrappers, food
items and other essential commodities, wife of the CDS said
they were in the state to sympathize with them over what
they are going through after their husbands died. She then
urged the widows, there in hundreds, to speak freely of the
problems they are going through.
One of the widows, Mrs. Fatima Abdullahi, said she is not
aware if her husband was killed or not, saying, "I am yet to
see his corpse. He was declared missing since 2014 and we
have not heard anything about him since then. But two
months after he was declared missing, the military authority
stopped his salary and drove us away from the barracks."
Mrs. Abdullahi said nothing has been paid to the family as
benefits. "I've been a full-time housewife. I do not have a
means of taking care of the children he left behind. We find
it very difficult to even feed," she said.
One of the widows, simply called Madam Serah, told the wife
of the CDS that after the death of her husband, the military
kept paying her his salary up to a year before it was
stopped. "My problem is I have not seen the corpse of my
husband. I am not begging for financial aid from the military.
I am a university graduate. Give me a job to take care of our
children. That is my prayer to the military authorities," she
said.
Mrs. Mary Johnson said her husband was killed in Monguno.
"When I went to the military headquarters for his benefit,
they told me that I must go to Monguno in Borno State and
obtain some papers from the Commander. On getting to
Maiduguri I was warned that I cannot go to Monguno except
with military escort. I am starving, along with my children."
Apparently not comfortable with the revelations by the
widows, army officers at the event interceded, stopped the
proceedings and led the wives of the service chiefs out of
the hall before dispersing the crowd.