Why Did He Bleed to Death? - Enraged Brother of Murdered Lt.Col Writes Open Letter to Buhari

The Colonel, wife & child 

We reported on Tuesday that a Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force Battalion in Borno State, Lt. Col Otos Umusu, was been killed alongside his security details, by an Improvised Explosive Device in an ambush on Monday evening.

Military insiders had disclosed that the senior Nigerian Army officer and his men were returning from Maiduguri to their location towards Baga when he was killed by suspected Boko Haram militants.

In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, Odiriviroro Umusu, younger brother of the late lieutenant colonel has written to the president over his brother’s tragic death which occurred a few weeks after the insurgents killed Abu-Ali, a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of 272 task force battalion, in a night raid in Borno state.


The late colonel's younger Umusu who told the president to investigate the death of his brother, wondered how and why his brother bled to death, when the army should ordinarily be prepared to snuff out the kind of injury his brother suffered.

“My name is Odiriviroro Umusu. I am the immediate junior brother of one of your officers Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu the Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force Battalion in Borno State, who was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, in an ambush on Monday 12th December 2016 on his way to Baga,” he wrote.

“Your Excellency, if you are reading this, the name UMUSU will ring a bell as my father Brigadier General Sylvester Ugege Umusu served under you and also worked with you when you headed PTF.

It is now Wednesday 14th December 2016 and as I write this letter with tears in eyes, my father, my brother’s wife Ufuoma Joe Umusu and his siblings have not been contacted by you, your office, the Chief of Defence Staff or the Chief of Army Staff to offer your condolences for our loss. My brave brother sacrificed his life and future with his family to make yours and every Nigerian’s today safe.

“In my humble opinion we deserve your acknowledgement and appreciation and as a former army officer I know you appreciate the sacrifice involved in serving your country and it saddens me that in over 24 hours after the passing of my brother a call has not been made to my family. I do not under any circumstances believe this is too much to ask; for the fallen heroes of our beloved country Nigeria.

“My family has served Nigeria in her armed forces and continues to do so; we have paid the greatest price for that service: the very young life of my beloved brother Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu who was killed in action.

As his family we have lots of questions to ask surrounding his death: “When will an investigation be carried out? Will there be an investigation? My brother bled out, why did his team not have the right equipment for such eventuality? What lessons can be learnt from this? “What is being done to stop funding to Boko Haram?

Every weapon, vehicle purchase or general equipment purchase by Boko Haram must leave a paper trail. Can the expert forensic accounting skills used by the EFCC not be employed to disrupt their operations?

“Your Excellency, you may deem this letter as disrespectful and not the right procedure in dealing with this matter but I am all but a Nigerian citizen that is grieving the loss of his beloved brother and in my humble opinion we deserve to know the who, what and why that happened to our brother on that terrible day and as his Command in Chief you are ultimately responsible for reaching out to all the families of our fallen heroes to assure them their loved ones did not die in vain.”