The family of Fatai Bada, the late military officer who died in active service, has lamented the alleged unpaid gratuity of the deceased.
The father of the deceased, Rafiu Bada, who raised the alarm, told our correspondent that the gratuity had been left unpaid for over 18 years.
Speaking to PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, Rafiu said Fatai, who was his first child, joined the army in 1990.
According to him, the late military officer was serving in the Ojo Barracks in Lagos State when he died of cardiac arrest on June 30, 2006.
He said the incident happened when he was preparing to go to work.
“He was dressed up and was waiting in the barracks for the bus that takes him and his colleagues to work. The bus always took them to Bonny Camp where they worked. So, when it arrived on that fateful morning, he was seen sitting down on the chair and when they alerted him of their arrival, he did not respond. It was when they moved close to him that they discovered that he was not responding. He was later rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed dead. He was also taken to the Yaba Military Hospital where an autopsy was carried out which indicated that he died of cardiac arrest,” he narrated.
Rafiu said his son was later buried at a cemetery in the Ojo military barracks.
The father however noted that since his son’s death, the military only paid his insurance claims to the deceased’s first son, Raimi, who is the next of kin.
“His first son, who is the next of kin, was invited to do clearance on the insurance claim. He went and spent close to a week doing the clearance. After that, he was asked to go and the money was later paid,” he added.
The 79-year-old ex-serviceman further disclosed that the deceased married two wives and gave birth to eight children noting that the first wife died 10 weeks earlier before his demise.
He added the family had been unable to get the military authorities to process the gratuity.
He said, “His wife and the children have been worried why the gratuity had yet to be paid. I am 79 years old and the mother is 76, we don’t have the strength and finances to start visiting the place and for the children, they do not know anybody there. Most of them often visit me and ask what is being done about the payment. I don’t have any answer for them. If we know the necessary requirement to process the payment, we would have done so. And anytime we reach out to Raimi, who is the next of Kin, he always said he was busy. We are appealing to the military authorities to help us look into this.”
The 81 Division spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Ayeni, could not be reached for reaction as calls made to his telephone were not responded to. A text message sent to him afterwards had yet to be replied to as of the time this report was filed.