The remains of late Major General Timothy Mai Shelpidi, former Commander of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), was buried yesterday evening in his hometown, Boh in Shomgom Local Government Area of Gombe state.
In 2004, he survived an assassination attempt when gunmen stormed his Abuja residence and shot him several times.
Born on September 4, 1948, General Shelpidi died on March 2, 2018 at the age of 70.
He joined the Nigerian Army as member of the 3rd Regular Course in 1970. In January 1998 he was appointed as Commander of the ECOMOG.
He voluntarily retired in 1999 on the rank of Major General after he served the nation for 29 years.
In his speech at the funeral ceremony, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo said, “We have lost a great son who played a key role in the creation of Gombe State in 1996.”
General Shelpidi joined politics in 2003 and contested for the gubernatorial seat in the 2003 elections.
He was one-time Nigeria’s Ambassador to Russia with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Belarus and Georgia from 2008 to 2011.
He was survived by a wife, an aged mother, children and grandchildren.
