Fifteen members of the Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria, Kwara State chapter, were said to have died within one month due to the non-payment of their retirement stipends by the concerned authorities. The state chairman of the association and a retired chief superintendent of police, Mr. Yakubu Abdul, who led his colleagues in a peaceful protest march in Ilorin yesterday, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to look into their plight.

The retirees, who lamented that many of them were seriously ill, said that others could no longer meet their family obligations not to talk of paying their children school fees, as resumption of schools was fast approaching. The protesters, who marched through major streets of Ilorin metropolis, also took their protest to the state House of Assembly, the state police command headquarters, Government House, Pension Commission office, Ilorin, and National Health Insurance Scheme office, among others, where they appealed to the appropriate authorities to look into their plights without further delay.

"It is disheartening to note that after serving the country meritoriously and retiring from service, our gratuities and pensions could not be paid while the authorities saddled to pay the dues have mismanaged the money," the chairman lamented.

They carried placards with inscriptions such as, 'We are dying, President Muhammadu Buhari, Help us," "Our Pension is embezzled," "Pension is for life," "PMB should empower ICPC/EFCC to investigate pension officials," National Housing Fund is a fraud," "After serving for 35 years meritoriously, our take home pay is N20,000," among others.

Abdul also decried a situation where the retired police officers on contributory pension scheme were paid on rank on verification instead of rank promoted.

"This development has allegedly denied many of our members the opportunity of being paid their accurate gratuity or pension and, as a result of this, police contributions.