Armed police officers and soldiers on Wednesday prevented retired military personnel from converging in front of the Federal Ministry of Defence in Abuja, where the ex-servicemen had gathered to protest the alleged non-implementation of consequential adjustments to their pensions.
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The retirees had attempted to move towards the front of the ministry to stage their demonstration when additional security personnel were deployed to prevent them from occupying the location.
The development followed an earlier confrontation between some serving soldiers and the retired military personnel after security operatives moved to stop the ex-servicemen from gathering directly in front of the ministry.
A heavy security presence was recorded around the Defence Ministry ahead of the protest, with personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, Nigeria Immigration Service and other agencies positioned along roads leading to the premises.
Two armoured personnel carriers and more than 15 operational vehicles belonging to security and government agencies were also reportedly stationed around the area.
The retired officers are demanding the implementation of consequential pension adjustments arising from salary increases approved for serving military personnel.
One of the leaders of the retirees, Col. Innocent Azubike (retd.), said the protest was intended to press what he described as the constitutional pension rights of retired military personnel.
According to Azubike, President Bola Tinubu approved a new salary increase for serving military personnel in November 2025, which the retirees contend should have resulted in a corresponding adjustment to their pensions.
He alleged that despite acknowledgements of the approval by military authorities, the consequential pension adjustment had not been implemented.
“We have a protest on Wednesday at the Ministry of Defence to demand our constitutional pension rights,” he said.
“In November last year, the President approved a new pay increase for the military, and it came with a consequential adjustment for retirees and pensioners.”
Azubike said the development was widely publicised at the time and that senior military authorities had acknowledged the President’s intervention.
He, however, alleged that by July and August 2026, the expected adjustment for pensioners had still not been implemented.
The retirees also raised concerns over another salary increase announced for serving military personnel in August 2026 and expected to take effect in September.
Azubike alleged that while the financial requirements for implementing the latest salary increase had been computed, retired personnel were excluded from the consequential pension adjustment.
“Another military salary increase was announced this August, totally ignoring that of last year. The new announcement is supposed to start implementation in September,” he said.
“They have computed the fund requirement for implementing this second announcement of pay increase. In their computation, they excluded pensioners and the consequential adjustment of pensioners’ pensions. That is the main issue we are protesting.”
The retired officer stressed that the ex-servicemen were not opposed to improvements in the salaries and welfare of serving personnel, but wanted corresponding pension adjustments implemented for those who had already retired.
He warned that failure to make the adjustments could create substantial disparities between military personnel of equivalent ranks and years of service merely because they retired at different periods.
According to the retirees, personnel retiring under a newer salary structure could receive considerably higher pensions than colleagues of the same rank who left service earlier.
Despite the security deployment on Wednesday, the retired military personnel maintained their demand for implementation of the pension adjustments.
Security personnel, however, prevented them from converging immediately in front of the Ministry of Defence as originally planned.
The protest adds to growing demands by retired military personnel for their pensions and benefits to reflect salary adjustments granted to serving members of the Armed Forces.
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