11/04/2026
A NATIONAL DISGRACE: THE BLOOD OF OUR GENERALS CRIES OUT FOR ACTION.
With a heaviness heart and righteous anger within me I posit that Ihe killing of Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah on April 9, 2026, by insurgents in the North East marks a gruesome milestone in Nigeria’s long war against terror. General Oseni Omoh Braimah death comes barely five months after the nation mourned Brigadier General Musa Uba in late 2025.
Let me paint the picture of horror that the official statements try to downplay: General Braimah, in the face of enemy fire, reportedly scrambled into an armored tank to maneuver for a counterattack. He turned the key. The engine did not start. Before he could escape or fight back, he was slaughtered.
That is not just a death. This is a metaphor for our current national predicament—equipment failing at the moment of maximum peril, and our bravest left to die because of systemic rot.
THE PRODIGAL SON FALLACY
How do we explain the mindset of a highest-ranking military officer who once described these murderous terrorists as “prodigal sons” deserving of rehabilitation? Let us be clear. These are not wayward children who stole cattle or goats and can be reintegrated after a family meeting. These are people who machine-gun schoolgirls, behead travelers, and assassinate soldiers and Generals.
Twenty-five female students abducted from a school in Maga, Kebbi State, on a Sunday—slaughtered like fowls by Boko Haram. Slaughtered. Not kidnapped for ransom. Not held for negotiation. Butchered. This is the reality of the “prodigal sons” some wish to coddle. This sickening disconnect between official rhetoric and ground reality is why our security personnel are dying in droves.
BEYOND RHETORIC, INTO ACTION.
The death of two generals in half a year is a signal that all is not well. It is a national disgrace that should jolt every Senator, every Governor, and especially the Commander-in-Chief from any illusion of control. When a Brigadier General cannot survive a battlefield encounter, what hope does the ordinary soldier have?
And let us not forget the many of unknown soldiers buried in silence. Their names not making headlines. Their widows are not invited to State House dinners. But their blood soaks the same soil as General Braimah’s.
THE WAY FORWARD
Honestly, this is sickening. The insecurity has gone beyond what we can manage with business-as-usual. We must go beyond rhetorics and face these issues headlong, or we are doomed as a nation.
This is a call on the Federal Government to:
1. Declare a total war footing—not a police action, not a negotiation. Terrorists who kill generals do not want dialogue; they want dominion.
2. Purge the security apparatus of officers who romanticize terrorists as “prodigal sons.” Such sentimentality is treason.
3. Investigate the equipment failure that cost General Braimah his life. Who is responsible for maintaining those armored tanks? Who signed off on faulty machinery? They must face a court-martial.
REST IN PEACE
To General Musa Uba. To General Oseni Omoh Braimah. To the 25 innocent female students of Maga, Kebbi State. To every soldier, policeman, and civilian whose life has been cut short by this senseless violence—rest in peace.
But peace will remain a mirage until we wake up. The engines of our tanks must start. The conscience of our leaders must awaken. And the blood of our generals must become the fire that burns this terrorist infrastructure to the ground.
If not, let no one pretend we deserve to call ourselves a sovereign nation.
HON. BARR. ALARI FELIX IS A FORMER COMMISSIONER OF THE PUBLIC COMPLAINTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA AND A CONCERNED PATRIOT.