By Olayemi Esan
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya has described late Maj.-Gen. Abraham Dusu as a complete gentleman, professional soldier, loving husband and a good family man, who gave his best to the service of the nation.
The remains of Disu who died at the age of 54 on Sept. 26 in Kachia, Kaduna State, was on Friday committed to mother in Abuja.
The late Dusu was the Commandant of Nigerian Army School of Artillery, a member of the 37th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
He was interred at the Guards Brigade Cemetery, Lungi Barrack, after a funeral service at All Saint’s Church (Protestant) Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.
Yahaya said that the demise of Dusu was a great loss to the Armed Forces, the Nigerian Army and the nation in general.
He said death is an inevitable end for everyone, which only God can determine when and how it will happen.
The COAS said that the burial of his colleague and course mate is a call for all to reflect on life and strive to be better human beings while still living.
He urged all to always aspire to live for humanity and society, bearing in mind that one day everyone would return to his maker.
“We should learn from this incident and several others we have witnessed to individually and collectively make efforts to be better through commitment to our jobs and service to humanity,” he said.
Yahaya assured the family of the deceased officer of army’s continuous support for them.
During the funeral service, Deputy Director, Chaplaincy Services (Protestant), Maj. (Rev.) Babatunde Adegoke, preaching on the topic, Mistaken Identity, admonished that humans had forgotten their real identity which is dust and decided to live on borrowed identity of titles and status.
He said that the personality that people put on, is borrowed identity and urged everyone to recognise the fact that “we would all return to the dust from which we came one day.”
The widow of Late Dusu, Mrs Cynthia Dusu, in her tribute described her late husband as a loving, caring and committed man to his job and family.
The widow, who referred to her late husband as ‘Baba and Sunbeam’, said their marriage of over two decades grew through tick and thin to produce lovely memories.
Reading the burial oratory, the Commander, Corps of Artillery, Maj.-Gen. Tari-Timiye Gagariga, said that the late General was commissioned as a Regular Combatant in 1990 in the rank of second lieutenant with seniority effective from Sept. 27, 1985.
He was promoted to the rank of Major General in Sept. 2019 and died while serving as Commandant of the School of Artillery.