From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Scores of Nigerian civil war veterans, yesterday, staged a protest in Ibadan, Oyo State over non-payment of their entitlements for the past 44 years by the Federal Government.
The civil war, also known as Biafran War, was fought for 30 months between 1967 and 1970 as then head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (Retd) sought to stop leader of the Biafran Republic, Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu from seceding from the federation.
Yesterday’s protesters lamented how they were used in executing the war but dumped by the Nigerian government with arrears of unpaid pensions and left to their fate to battle different life threatening sicknesses. The veterans’ protest march started at the state secretariat of the Nigerian Legion at American Quarters, Idi-Ape, Ibadan, and terminated at the entrance of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
They carried placards with inscriptions such as: ‘We are the civil war veterans’, ‘We were used and dumped by the Nigerian government’, ‘We are dying in silence’, ‘44 years unpaid pension to the Nigeria Civil War veterans’, ‘We laid down our lives for the unity of this country, but got punishment as compensation’, ‘We were verified in 2015 and issued with genuine pensioners’ certificate, but no payment’, ‘Is it a crime to defend a nation?’ ‘Majority of us are on sick bed, suffering from stroke.’
Spokesperson for the veterans, Pa Babawande Philips, told journalists that the protest was aimed at drawing the attention of President Muhamamdu Buhari to their plight.
“We have been deprived of our pensions for the past 44 years. They irony of it is that they said we are not qualified because we didn’t clock 15 years in service. In our early 20s and late 30s, we all enlisted into the Nigerian Army and we fought for a period of 10 years and above. When the government depopulated the Nigeria’s workforce, some of us crossed to various places like the police, customs, immigration, schools and so on. So, we have been on this agitation since 2002. In 2007, there was a biometric capturing and out of a lot of us, that they captured, a few people were being paid, and they are collecting their pensions since then….
“On the nominal role, we have 780 of us that have not been paid. The number may be more than that. So, we appeal to the Federal Government to yield to our clarion call. If a person used a day in the war front, you can’t equate it with somebody who used a year outside the war. The Biafran soldiers were paid in batches and they have all been paid to the last kobo. The last batch was paid last year, about 112 of them. It was Decree 102 they used against us. This Decree 102 was not supposed to be used against us because they didn’t use it against the Biafrans, that fought against Nigeria. One thing I know that is sure is President Muhammadu Buhari has not been aware of what is happening because we were ‘Buhari’s Boys’ during the civil war time,” said Philips, who is also National Coordinator for the group[, known as First Intake Able Voluntary Retired or Discharged Ten or More Years in Military Service.