Some retired Nigerian servicemen have rejected the annual Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations, calling it a waste of resources.
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.
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.
One of the retired soldiers, Abubakar Aminu told media men that he never benefited from the yearly donations and questioned the credibility of those entrusted to manage the funds.
“We only hear millions of naira every year, we don’t know where the money goes. Nobody, not even the leadership of the legion would tell us where the money is going and when you ask the chairman, no serious response,” Abubakar explained.
“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 Roundabout Cenotaph in Jos, appealed to the Federal Government to pay them their nine-month pension arrears.