Didi Ndiomu: Why Late Chief of Army Staff Ibrahim Attahiru’s Name Should Be Immortalised

In honour of the late Chief of Army Staff Ibrahim Attahiru, whose first death anniversary is a few days away, the chairman of the Ibrahim Attahiru Foundation, Didi Ndiomu, speaks to Vanessa Obioha about the values of Attahiru, which the foundation hopes to uphold

His tone gave him away. The softness of his voice did not help to mask the graveness. Didi Ndiomu, a serial entrepreneur and the Chairman of Nigeria Machine Tools Ltd, has yet to get over the death of Ibrahim Attahiru, who passed on May 21, 2021. Attahiru was involved in a Nigerian Air Force Beechcraft B300 King Air 350i crash near Kaduna Airport. He was on his way to Kaduna alongside 10 other officers to attend the passing-out parade of 80RRI in Depot Nigerian Army scheduled for the next day.

Attahiru, before his untimely death, served as the country’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) for nearly four months. He assumed the post on January 26, 2021. The Kaduna-born soldier was a graduate of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and Nigerian Army School of Infantry. He commenced officer cadet training in January 1984 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December 1986 as an Infantry Officer. He held a master’s degree in Strategic Management and Policy Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy. He also obtained a Master’s of Science in Human Resources Management and Development from Salford University in the United Kingdom and a Graduate Diploma in International Studies from the University of Nairobi. As a military officer, he facilitated Operation Barras in September 2002 during his tour of duty with the United Nations in Sierra Leone. He was also an officer for ECOMOG Operations in Liberia.

“He was very well-read. He was extremely well-read. He was very interested in everything so if you had a discussion with him today about neoclassical architecture, come back next time and hold that conversation. He would make you look foolish,” said Ndiomu, sitting in his spacious office in Ikoyi. Ndiomu spoke loftily about the values of the late COAS. The aptest way to describe him was that he was a constant learner. “An amazing guy. His commitment to Nigeria was phenomenal.”

There were moments when Ndiomu wondered why someone would sign up for a profession where death is definite.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the people you see in uniform are very committed to Nigeria. It takes a lot for you to sign up for a profession where you can go to work in the morning and legitimately not come back in the evening,” added Ndiomu. “That’s what a lot of people do not realise about the description of the military. They just see men wearing green and camouflage on the streets, and they really don’t get it. But a man has signed to go to work in the morning and legitimately not come back home in the evening and accept that as his fate.”

Ndiomu’s relationship with Attahiru was brotherly. They had met through his brother Major General Barry Ndiomu, who also had a close relationship with the deceased. Their bond grew over the years such that when the news of his death reached his ears, he initially dismissed it.

“Truthfully, I was confused. So I asked myself, How does this happen? How does the Chief of Army Staff die? It’s not true. So I started making phone calls. I spoke to his driver, who was waiting for him in Kaduna, and he said yes,” narrated Ndiomu. “And even after that, I still didn’t agree. A friend of mine called me and said, ‘ Sir, your brother just passed.’ So I asked where he was, and he replied that he was in Kaduna to see his family and that my brother’s plane just crashed.”

He continued: “I just went and sat still. I tried to make my mind blank because if you try to process it, you will hurt yourself but I was in total shock and disbelief. I’ve lost people. I’ve lost a lot of people. The late COAS’ death was painful because I knew his dream. Trust me, I knew the things that he wanted to do. There’s something he always said about the triumvirate for peace, that it had to be a covenant between the government, army and the people who all have to speak with one voice.

Otherwise, the battle was a waste of time. You know you sit down, and you look at that statement. Yes, I know a lot of thinkers have come up with similar sayings. When you think about the meaning of it in itself. He thought constantly as to how to make the government, armed forces and the people all be on the same page. And he kept saying if we don’t get that, we’ll never be visible.”

Making a plea on the need to fund the army, Ndiomu said the late Attahiru was keen on training.
“He was hoping that he’d be able to take the whole brigades for training for as long as six months. Now think of the cost of that. The military is not cheap, but the budget is too small,” he lamented.

To immortalise the late COAS and promote his ideals, Ndiomu set up the General Ibrahim Attahiru Foundation (GIAF). The foundation will be formally launched on Saturday, May 21, at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. The event will feature the unveiling and screening of a documentary on the life and times of the late soldier as well as the launch of his biography.
Ndiomu said the foundation was the idea of the deceased widow Fati while he served as the chairman of the foundation.

“The reason behind the foundation is to truthfully immortalise his name because Ibrahim truly was a great guy. And when she (Fati) mentioned it to me and I looked at it, and in my mind, I was like…ordinarily, she wouldn’t have the presence of mind in that state that she was in to come up with something like this, but she did. And it was a very, very valid and brilliant idea,” Ndiomu explained. “How best do we keep his name going, outside trying to foster the ideals that he lived by? That’s the best way we can immortalise him.”

The foundation will focus on leadership training, education, mental health and welfare of soldiers.
“People don’t see the sacrifices the soldiers make. They leave people behind when they die. Society tends not to see that part. So we will try our best for people to see that part. If we don’t see, we won’t act. If we don’t see, we won’t know,” he noted. “It’s easy to turn and say we would give scholarships to children of fallen military personnel. That’s just one aspect. There are many other aspects.”

The foundation is fixing two blocks of classrooms in Danbatta and participated in the Armed Forces Remembrance Day. The foundation, he said, would pay special attention to mental health in the military.
“We will continue to foster those ideals and keep building the foundation, and hopefully, it will become a household name someday, and we will ensure that his name is never rubbed off the slate. It can’t be out of the slate. But just ensure that we keep it there and keep it bright and shiny,” stated Ndiomu.

When Nigerians think of Attahiru, Ndiomu wants them to see that the country lost a good man.
“He was very patriotic and unbelievably civil…He would have offered great things to us because he had the guts. And when I also think of him, I try not to see it from the perspective of Nigerians,” he explained. “I bring him to what he was primarily: someone’s husband and father to three girls. And then I pray that Nigeria will always try to remember that this guy died serving us. Let us try to serve them.”