Former CSI student dies in Iraq
Nigerian community
mourns death of 21-year-old soldier from Queens who was killed in
truck incident
Staten Island Advance - January 20, 2005
Staten Island’s Nigerian community joined hands yesterday with the
College of Staten Island in mourning the death of one of their own-a
21-year-old soldier who died in a U.S. military incident in Baghdad.
Pfc. Francis Obaji of Queens, a native of Nigeria and former CSI
student who was a member of New York’s famed Fighting 69th National
Guard regiment, was killed Monday when his truck rolled into a
ditch.
According to family members, the vehicle in which Obaji was riding
was ambushed by grenade-tossing insurgents and burst into flames
before going into a ditch.
The young man was taken to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in
Baghdad, where he died the same day.
Only four months into his deployment, Obaji is the 20th member of
the Manhattan-based regiment to die in Iraq. Ho joined the National
Guard in October 2002, according to Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, a
spokesman.
GIVING BACK TO U.S.
His father, Cyril Obaji, a limo driver, said the young man “thought
it was so great to be an American ... He wanted to give back to this
country.”
On Sept. 11, Francis Obaji was waiting for the Staten Island Ferry,
on his way to his classes at CSI. He heard the awful sound of the
first airplane crashing into the World Trade Center, and joined the
thousands fleeing smoke and debris, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
The experience moved him to join the National Guard, he told his
father later.
“It wasn’t that he went in for vengeance,” Cyril Obaji said of his
son at the family’s Queens Village home yesterday. “It was just his
wanting to fulfill his duty.”
Francis Obaji called his family often, they said. His last call was
on Saturday, when he told them he’d be home for Easter.
Killed in the same incident was Spec. Alain Kamolvathin also 21, of
Blairstown, N.J.
More than 1,35O members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq
war. Twenty of them were from New York City.
NIGERIANS MOURN
While expressing their grief last night, a number of
Nigerian-Americans here made no secret of their strong opposition to
the war in Iraq.
They characterized Obaji’s death as a tragic “waste” in a conflict
they said should never have been undertaken.
About 10,000 Nigerians live on Staten Island, according to members
of the community. Carol Jackson, CSI vice president for student
affairs, noting the growing number of Nigerian students at the
college and their important contributions to college life.
The pain of Obaji’s loss is heart-wrenching, she said.
“When you lose a young person like this you’re naturally
devastated,” she said during an interview. “It’s very sad to see
someone cut down in their life so soon.”
Obaji came to this country with his family in 1994. He was a track
star at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn before attending CSI, where
he studied biology from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2003.
He did not receive a degree, but Ms. Jackson said his presence at
the 12,000-student college was emblematic of CSI’s growing
attraction to the immigrant community as well as the growing
influence of newly arrived Americans in student life.
She noted that the current vice president of student government is a
Nigerian —Taiwo Olasupo, who is now taking part in a study-abroad
program, studying Chinese and business at the University of
Shanghai.
There were 68 Nigerians at CSI this past semester, according to
college records. “I think our immigrant students are part of what
make -this college so wonderful,”
Ms. Jackson said.
‘UPSETTING SITUATION’
Julius Oladapo of West Brighton, who operates the Star Pre-School
and Day Care Center in Mariners Harbor said Obaji should never have
found himself in harms way.
“This is really an upsetting situation,” he said. “I say to because
there’s really no reason for this war What are we doing in Iraq? The
original rationale was the so-called weapons of mass destruction,
but the government never found them. So this is all just a waste,
and not just Obaji’s death but all the others who have died, too.”
Oladapo said the terrorists-the focus of the war-had nothing to do
with Iraq. “Osama bin Laden came from Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Samuel Donigbinde of Livingston, a highway inspector, called the
attack on Iraq ‘an unjust war.”
“We call ourselves a nation of peace,” he said. “We should-be
seeking peace in that area of the world instead of all that
killing.”
The funeral service for Obaji will be conducted tomorrow in Hollis,
Queens.
By REGINALD PATRICK
Reprinted here with permission from the
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