DAILY TRUST
The Armed Forces Remembrance Day held every January 15 is aimed at commemorating the servicemen of the Nigerian military, especially those who fought during World War I and II and those who fought during the Nigerian civil war.
As another remembrance day drew near, retired soldiers, popularly known as I’m Alive, as well as the next of kin of those who lost their lives in active service, vowed to take to all federal roads to express their displeasure over the nonpayment of their pension arrears for 45 years.
At the Nigerian Legion Building on American Street, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State, our correspondent saw hundreds of retired soldiers who have been certified due for pension but are being owed arrears. They marched under the sun, chanting solidarity songs and bearing placards.
The Legion Building, an 18th century-styled one-storey building, which looks old and lacks maintenance, bears witness to the neglect the ex-soldiers and their next of kin are complaining about.
The old soldiers, most of them in their 70s and 80s and dealing with one age-related ailment or another, called out the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as other stakeholders, to grant them their demand and pay their 45-year pension arrears.
The pensioners, who flaunted different documents obtained during the course of discharge from duty, verification exercise in Abuja etc, looked worn-out and impoverished as they narrated their ordeals to Daily Trust Saturday.
The national coordinator, The Able Voluntary Discharged Soldiers of Ten Years and Above, Corporal Babawande Phillip (retd), recalled that more than 100 of the ex-servicemen had died in abject poverty during the struggle for their right.
