– Angry ex-servicemen have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to scrap the annual Armed Forces remembrance Day celebrations because it has failed to live up to its purpose
– The retired soldiers also accused the leadership of the Nigerian Legion for ex-servicemen of embezzling the annual donations
– Spokesman of the Retired Army, Navy and Air forces Association (RANAO) Captain Abdulmaliq Yusuf says it is a waste of funds that can be used to help retired soldiers
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo preparing to lay a wreath during the 2017 Armed Forces Remembrance celebrations.
Some retired Nigerian servicemen have rejected the annual Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations, calling it a waste of resources, The Guardian reports.
According to the report, retired soldiers in Kano, who made the surprising call while speaking at Mallam Kato Square, expressed their disappointment with the ways revenue generated from sale of armed forces emblems was being managed.
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The retired soldiers also accused the leadership of the Nigerian Legion for ex-servicemen of embezzling the annual donations.
Spokesman of the Retired Army, Navy and Air forces Association (RANAO) Captain Abdulmaliq Yusuf then called for the abolition of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day because it is a waste of resources that should have been used to take care of retired soldiers.
The Guardian quotes one of the retired soldiers, Abubakar Aminu as saying to media men that he never benefitted from the yearly donations and questioned the credibility of those entrusted to manage the funds.
“We only hear millions of naira every
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“The purpose of the money being generated we were told is to be used to assist families of the late soldiers. Many children who lost their fathers on active service don’t have any source of finance now. If you go to the state secretariat of the legion you will see how many of the retired soldiers who cannot feed themselves left alone send their children to school. Honestly so many soldiers are suffering because they were unable to receive their pension for several years,” another ex-service man Iliasu Tsoho said.
In Plateau state, chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Col. Danladi Rwang (rtd), speaking on Sunday, January 15, at the wreath-laying ceremony at the J.D. Gomwalk Secretariat Round About Cenotaph in Jos, appealed to the Federal Government to pay them their nine-month pension arrears.
Meanwhile, wife of the president Aisha Buhari on Sunday, January 15, said a prayer for relatives of Nigeria’s fallen heroes, soldiers who died in the line of battle, and those who gave their all in service of the nation.
The First Lady rendered the prayers as the country marked the Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
Aisha also prayed that the labours, love and sacrifices of the fallen heroes would never be forgotten.
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