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RETIRED POLICE OFFICERS DEFY RAIN, STORM NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Hundreds of retired police personnel on Monday defied rainfall in the nation’s capital and marched to the national assembly to express their grievances over their continued existence on the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Chanting solidarity songs and different comments, the protesters first marched to the main entrance of the legislative chambers before heading for the Force Headquarters where they reiterated their displeasure.
The retired police officers claimed that they had been pushed to the wall with the government’s unresponsive attitude to their yearnings about what they tagged “discriminatory pension scheme”.
The elderly retired cops are protesting to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme – the scheme many critical stakeholders have flayed.
They, however, scheduled a massive protest for today, July 21, 2025 and they were backed by different activists including a former Presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore.
Our correspondent, who covered the protest, reports that the demonstrators, comprising elderly ex-police personnel were led by their leader; Sowore; the human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju and many other activists.
The demonstrators, wielding different placards with various inscriptions inside rain, insisted that their welfare and dignity had been neglected for too long, and as such, they would not listen to any promise.
Speaking to journalists during the protest, the Chairman of Police Officers Retirees on Contributory Pension Scheme, Kaduna State branch, Mannir Lawal, described the scheme as “exploitative and unjust”.
Lawal, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, called on the government to exit police retirees from the pension scheme with immediate effect.
“We are here to ask the government to remove us from the CPS. The pension scheme is exploitative and unjust. I am 67 years old. Many of us here are in our 60s and 70s.
“We have served this country faithfully and deserve to retire in dignity. This scheme has impoverished us. It is our right to demand better,” the senior retired police officers told journalists.
As at when filing this report, the retired officers were still at the entrance of the national assembly after returning from Force headquarters, vowing that they would not leave until their demand was addressed by the national assembly.
Security operatives drawn from the Federal Capital Territory Command, were seen monitoring the protest and controlling the crowd to prevent any possible break down of law and order.
