Army buries Artillery School commandant amidst tears in Abuja
Maj.-Gen. Abraham Dusu, Commandant of Nigerian Army School of Artillery, who died at the age of 54 on Sept. 26 in Kachia, Kaduna State, was committed to mother earth on Friday in Abuja by the Nigerian Army.
Late Dusu, a member of the 37th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, was interred at the Guards Brigade Cemetery, Lungi Barrack, after a funeral service at All Saints Church (Protestant) Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.
Speaking at ceremony, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, described the late general as a complete gentleman, a professional soldier, loving husband and a good family man, who gave his best to the service of the nation.
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, the Deputy Director, Chaplaincy Services (Protestant), Maj. (Rev.) Babatunde Adegoke, preached on the theme, “Mistaken Identity”, admonishing 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 a 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, paid tribute to her late husband, describing the late General as a loving, caring and committed man to his job and family.
The widow, who refers to her late husband as ‘Baba and Sunbeam’, said their marriage of over two decades grew through thick 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.
Gagariga said that the officer was promoted to the rank of Major General in Sept. 2019 and died while serving as commandant of the School of Artillery.
