On Friday, 21st May 2021, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru was killed in a plane crash. He wasn’t alone in the Air Force plane. Ten other military officers and soldiers, including the Army head of Intelligence, perished in the crash.
The officers were buried in the Military Cemetery in Abuja with dignitaries and an army of pressmen and women in attendance. It is no hyperbole to say that the whole nation had its eyes on Abuja.
Hundreds of Kilometres away, in a village in Imo State, a quieter burial was taking place. Obinna Churchill, a Nigerian Soldier of Igbo extraction who died in active service for the country was being laid to rest. 
There was the usual ceremonial camaraderie from his fellow soldiers with his coffin drapped in the Nigerian flag. His young son got his boots as Military tradition requires. In the background, the lack of affluence (if not outright poverty) in the family was too glaring even for a casual observer to notice.
See moment soldiers located body of missing General
One of the attendants in the funeral, a certain Uche Diala wrote on his Facebook wall, “As I pray for the repose of his soul and for fortitude for the family to bear the irreparable loss of a young son, husband, father, and brother, I pray that’s not all there is. Most importantly, I pray he won’t have died in vain.”
One can only say amen to this prayer as Nigeria has, on no few occasions, failed many who died for her. For instance, on Saturday, despite the national shock and outcry that greeted the death of the Chief of Army Staff, the president, and commander in chief, Retd. Maj. Gen. Muhammedu Buhari failed to make an appearance at the interment.
What is the odds that the death of Obinna who had a lonely burial would make a difference?
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