Widow Of Late Nigerian Soldier Forced To Sell Firewood To Feed Four Children, Cries For Help

A widow of late Nigerian soldier, Dausiya Murtala, has cried out over hardship, revealing that she now sells firewood to feed herself and her four children after being abandoned by her husband’s relatives and neglected by the military authorities.

Dausiya narrated that her husband was serving in Kursati, Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State, when he suddenly fell ill and was brought home by his colleagues. He, however, died just a few hours later.

“Since the death of my husband, life has not been the same. I now sell firewood to feed myself and my four children because relatives of my late husband do not support me,” she lamented in an interview with Daily Trust.

Dausiya explained that shortly after his death, she and her children were ejected from the army barracks in Takum where they had been living. She relocated to Katsina, where she has been battling to survive for the past three years.

She noted that the military authorities paid her part of her husband’s entitlements, which she used to purchase a small house, but the money has since finished.

She said she was told there were still other benefits to be paid to her but nothing has been paid again. "I am in need of money to feed my children and pay their school fees,” she said.

The widow, who hails from Maigatari town in Jigawa State, said she has no relatives in Katsina to support her, and has deliberately refused to inform her aged parents about her present ordeal.

According to her, her late husband’s family also denied her access to a plot of land he reportedly owned in Katsina.

“When I approached his parents to show me the land, they warned me to stay away,” she added.

Frustrated and abandoned, she said her only option now is to sell the house she bought with her husband’s gratuity and relocate to either Maigatari in Jigawa State or Kano to start a business that would enable her to raise her children.

“My priority is to ensure that my children are educated. That’s what my late husband cherished most,” she added.

While describing her late husband as a caring father, she appealed to the Nigerian Army to urgently release the balance of his benefits to enable her to properly care for her children.

“I appeal to the military authorities to please pay what is left of my late husband’s benefits so that I can continue sponsoring my children in school and feed them well,” she pleaded. 

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