I have read the press statement issued by the Katsina State Government on the death of Retired Major General Rabe Abubakar while in bandits’ captivity.
While I extend my sincere condolences to his family, the explanation offered raises serious questions that can not be ignored.
The government’s statement asserts that the General died a ‘natural death’ from complications associated with diabetes and hypertension while being held captive. This conclusion is a profound assault on logic and legal reality.
Under no standard of law or human decency can a man held at gunpoint by terrorists, stripped of his liberty, dignity, and denied standard medical care be said to have died a ‘natural death’. It is a legal contradiction; it was a homicide.
These concerns are neither political nor unreasonable. They are fundamental questions of accountability that arise when a high-ranking asset of the Nigerian State dies in the custody of criminals.
In the interest of justice, the Katsina State Government and relevant federal authorities must answer the following:
1. Where is the body of the late General? Has it been recovered? If the state is not yet in possession of his remains, on what forensic basis was the cause of death determined?
2. Who certified the cause of death? What is the name of the medical doctor or pathologist who established these specific complications? Has a formal autopsy been conducted, or is the public being asked to accept a medical conclusion without the most fundamental prerequisite: ‘The Body Itself’.
3. Where is his wife, Hajiya Amina Abubakar? She was abducted alongside the General. Is she alive? Has she been rescued? If yes, can the Katsina State Government produce Hajiya Amina Abubakar physically, before her family and before the Nigerian public? If not, what concrete steps are being taken today, not in a future press release, to secure her freedom?
4. What do the ‘relentless efforts’ mean? Can the government itemise and date the specific rescue operations attempted prior to this tragedy?
5. Why the deliberate silence on the wife? Why did the official press release omit her situation entirely? Is this a bureaucratic oversight or a deliberate attempt to manage public outrage?
6. Has the family been briefed? Has the General’s family been given full, unrestricted access to all information surrounding the circumstances of his death?
The family, the military community, and the nation deserve the truth, not assumptions, not conclusions without evidence, but clear and transparent facts.
The public will ultimately draw its own conclusions.
Ambassador Uzo Owunne writes from London
