Military veterans, on Tuesday, slept on the floor to protest the continuation of the alleged non-payment of their allowances.
Naija News recalls that the Retired Members of the Nigerian Armed Forces (REMENAF) and the Coalition of Concerned Military Veterans (CCV), stormed the Ministry of Defence in Abuja to demand the payment of their security debarment allowance.
Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the retired military officers, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herbert, said the protest would continue until their members are paid.
Durowaiye-Herbert added that some of the retired officers spent the night on the floor for two days and would continue to protest until their allowances are paid.
He said: “Now the issue we seem to have is that since May up to this moment, that money has not been paid to us. We have written a series of letters to the minister of defence, yet no feedback.
“The administration of Muhammadu Buhari will wind down very soon. Of course, this is an opportunity that one of us is the president, another the Minister of Defence, and even the National Security Adviser.
“If we miss it this time, will it be a civilian that will understand our plight better than our own colleagues? A number of our members are bedridden, sick and dying on a daily basis.
“So, we felt the only way we can make our grievances known is by coming here to protest since all means of dialogue has failed. We will stay here for as long as it takes them to attend to us.
“We started this protest yesterday, and slept here in the cold and at the mercy of mosquitoes, but it doesn’t matter, because we are doing this for our more than 70,000 colleagues, some of who are bedridden and cannot come here.
“Initially, the approval was given for those who retired from 2017 till date and we told them ‘no, it cannot happen’. Some of us fought a civil war to ensure that this country remains an indivisible entity, and the ones that are there now are our juniors.
“So, how can they benefit and those of us who trained them and even recommended their promotions are excluded?”
Ministry of Defence Reacts
On his part, the spokesman to the Minister of Defence, Abdulkadri Mohammad, said the ministry is already in talks with the retired officers on the matter.
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