A MUST READ: An Unusual Soldier

Obi Abel Umahi 

Adeola Akinremi unveils the unusual soldier whose raid on suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos and Ogun States recently saved the cities

Just over six weeks after, I finally met him. The road to his office was familiar. I knew the houses and the adjoining streets. The landmarks too had not been removed, so it was easy. But I had no idea what he looked like. After the news broke in the morning of July 30, 2013, that his division, the 81 Division of Nigerian Army (comprising Lagos and Ogun States) arrested some 42 suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram terrorist group, I did not sleep well that night. I tossed from 

one corner of the bed to the other. My mind had become enveloped with several thoughts; the chief of which was death in the neigbourhood. I thought of several families that could have been wiped out 
and the number of widows, widowers and orphans that could have been added to the statistics.  So the next day, I requested to meet with the man who saved the cities. 


My combat reporter, Chiemelie Ezeobi fixed it. Major-General Obi Abel Umahi, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) for 81 Division of the Nigerian Army agreed to meet me at 1.pm on a recent Wednesday, but it was not until 2.pm that I arrived in his office. The traffic snarl from the mainland area to Kofo Abayomi Street on Victoria Island had held me. But by the time I arrived at the gate of the headquarters of 81 Division that Wednesday afternoon, it was obvious, he had been waiting to receive me. From far distance someone gestured to the soldiers guarding the premises to allow me in without a routine check. I have been marked! The conviviality of the environment where Umahi calls the shot from must be one of the reasons he’s succeeding I muttered to myself as I was ushered into his office by his aide, Kingsley Umor, an Army officer in the rank of a colonel who manages information for the 81 Division.

Once inside his office, Umahi welcomed me with a huge smile and promptly gestured that I sit on one of the two elegant chairs near to his cosy table. As I sat, I steeled myself for a forceful intimidating presence of a General. His official portrait and that of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General, Azubuike Ihejirika that was hung on the wall behind his seat was somewhat intimidating, though they were there to serve different purpose. Then, his imposing figure and a parade of stars on his shoulders would add to that nervousness. But I noticed one thing quickly, among the files and books that were on his table, different versions of Holy Bibles were distinct.  It turned out that Umahi is like a biblical Nehemiah with gun in one hand and bible on the other for the defence of his country. He has a gentle voice with cerebral air as he spoke to me in a conversation that lasted for more than one hour that sunny Wednesday penultimate week.  A steely ambition has driven him over the past decades, and this is accentuated as he climbs up as a soldier in the Nigerian Army: it was to get rid of malevolent and mischief-makers. “My real ambition in life was to be a social critic. I had the burden to confront evil. I set out to challenge it everywhere. It was a global ambition. I wanted to be a professor of international repute. A professor that could be an international citizen; speaks anywhere; stands anywhere and of course go against evil in the society. I really wanted to be like a social critic. The difference is that I entered into a system that tells you to speak only when your opinion is sought and I think that is a better environment, because it brings out the discipline and that is something that is difficult to manifest in the life of a natural human being,” he strikingly said.

In many ways, his working life as a soldier has somehow ensured that he’s realising his real life ambition.  “Almost all through my career in this job, I’ve been involved in internal security operations.  I’ve done this internal security operation and indeed beyond internal security operations, full scale war operations. I’ve done it almost all through my career and I think that has equipped me to carry out any level of operation, no matter the scale.”

As a captain, he was drafted to join the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), in Liberia at a time that country was facing its full scale war between 1990 and 1993.  Due to his gallantry and audacious efforts in the face of severe rebel attacks, Umahi had gunshot wounds, but In spite of the severity of the injuries he sustained, he refused to be evacuated to Nigeria. He preferred to be treated in operation area. Two months later, he was discharged from hospital and he took over the command of his company and re-launched into active service.

Before he came to Lagos in February this year as a GOC, Umahi had commanded Nigerian Army 4 Mechanised Brigade taking charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo States.  As a Major in the army, he was the Commander of Rivers State Internal Security Task Force from 1995 to 1999. When Umahi was saddled with that responsibility of Commander Army Task Group, he came face-to-face with death while confronting illegal bunkerers. In such instance, he arrested two oil vessels used by oil thieves.

But experience alone does not explain Umahi’s style and professionalism, his stance on life is deeply rooted in his faith. Every morning when he arrives in his office, before going through files and coordinating intelligence, he would go to God bowing his head or sometimes on his kneels asking God to defend the country and make it safe for Nigerians.

“Every soldier who is a born again Christian must be a Nehemiah of his time, because while carrying  a gun in one hand, there would  always be those who will be opposed to you and the truth is that the weapons of our warfare sometimes may not be canal. You know a doctor can administer all the medicine, but if God does not intervene, then there will be no real healing. So God heals, while a doctor makes prescription and that is why sometimes, the almighty God sweeps everybody off their feet to show that he is in charge. So it’s good to have the two, both gun and the Bible in both hands,” he said.

On the other side, a close shave with death experience that his mother had is also shaping his life. “The testimony of how my mother was revived back to life by the almighty God is an important part of my life’s story. She was almost dead at a time and my father had bought all the burial materials, because having gone through medical and native procedures and she was not responding to treatment and her colour had already changed, then the next thing everybody believed was that she was going to die. But all of a sudden, she had an encounter with God and that turned her situation around. And 40years down the line, she is still alive and strong in the Lord,” he said looking in the direction of the bible on his table with a grin. 

But Umahi did not start out as a soldier. He told me he how he accidentally became a soldier. “It was while I was searching for that opportunity of becoming a lecturer that took me to where I am today. I was a Graduate Assistant with Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) and that was just a standby position for a chance to avail itself for a position as a Graduate Assistant in University of Ibadan, because there was none then. So the head of the department of Political Science said I should just hang out there. He actually arranged the appointment for me, so I was there waiting and watching, but one year down the line, that opportunity didn’t come. Then, a friend of mine who knew what I wanted out of life called my attention to an advert for lecturers at Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). So I applied, had the interview and passed it. When I was offered employment, I asked if I would be allowed to go for my post graduate studies and they said I would be able to go. But I considered the offer for two months before accepting to take the position.  They kept calling me to come and take the position, so I went and started working with the soldiers.  Now, those were the days of essential commodities and I found out that the soldiers, my contemporaries were being taking care of more than the civilians, even though we were all at the same level, answering grade 3 or so. But they were getting better treatment and because I had never liked playing the second fiddle to someone, I said to myself, if that was inferior to where I want to be, then I needed to climb up. That was how I became a soldier.”

With a gentle voice, he downplayed his contribution to the change we now see in the Army, but Umahi explained that as a General, he’s finding fulfillment. He spoke glowingly about the leadership that is providing the inspiration. He said: “I think the Chief of Army staff is the vanguard of change. Any person who is closely studying and following what he is doing can only think of how to advance what he is doing to bring a permanent and progressive change to Nigerian Army.  Having closely followed what he is doing, I think it’s the right way for the Army to go and I think we are on that track, so that is exactly what I would want to advance.”

And for a man who was born on the eve of Nigeria’s independence in April 1960, in a little known community of Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, the degrees in his arsenal showed that Umahi had prepared for his life journey well ahead of time. He parades three different masters degree in addition to his long list of military courses from international and local institutions.

On Sundays, when Umahi climbs the pulpit to speak to his church as a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the congregation surely will listen, not because he’s their shepherd, but because he’s an unusual soldier.