Retired policemen take protest to Aso Villa Gate

• Pensioners demand exit from CPS

Protesting police pensioners yesterday occupied one of the two major access routes to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The protest, though peaceful, caused disruption to vehicular movement around the seat of power.

The retirees, under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF), blocked the Asokoro access road leading to the Villa, located in front of the Federal Fire Service, making it impossible for motorists heading to work through that corridor to gain entry.

However, the alternative access route from the Federal Secretariat axis, which leads through the Supreme Court, remained open.

The diversion of traffic from the blocked Asokoro route to the unaffected corridor triggered heavy traffic, with long queues of vehicles stretching through security checkpoints along the secretariat axis.

The protest, which marked an escalation of long-standing grievances over pension welfare, prompted immediate reinforcement of security around the Villa, with heavily armed personnel of the Brigade of Guards deployed to maintain order and secure the perimeter.

The aggrieved retirees demanded their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), which they argued has subjected them to inadequate benefits, irregular payments, and severe hardship in retirement.

Yesterday’s action was part of a sustained agitation that has lingered for years, with former police personnel repeatedly calling for either an exit from the CPS or the establishment of a separate pension framework tailored to the peculiar risks associated with policing.

At the core of the renewed protest is growing frustration over delays in presidential assent to a Bill passed by the National Assembly with the provisions that seek to exempt police personnel from the CPS.

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Led by their National Coordinator, Raphael Irowainu, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as fraudulent and illegal.

They said the prolonged wait had worsened the plight of retirees, many of whom, they noted, were struggling to survive under what they called “unjust and exploitative” pension conditions.

According to them, the protest sought to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assent to the Police Exit Bill that was passed by the National Assembly on December 4, last year, and transmitted to the President on March 16 this year.

The protesters noted that when signed into law, the Act would exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme”.

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing solidarity songs, while some of them lay on the floor.

CSP Irowainu stated that while other security agencies, such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, DSS, and others have been exited from the scheme, the police remained trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our Bill—the Bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025 and transmitted to him on March 16, this year, into law. Nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the fathers of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” Irowainu said.

Yesterday’s protest was not the first time retired officers staged a protest over the CPS.

Last July, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the CPS.

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Olatunji Disu, last Tuesday after a protest at the force headquarters, met with a delegation of the retired police officers and addressed critical welfare concerns.

He placed the resolution of pension and gratuity issues at the forefront of the Force’s current agenda.

During the meeting, Disu highlighted the persistent challenges surrounding pensions and salaries, identifying them as pressing matters that demand immediate attention.

He underscored his administration’s determination to pursue lasting solutions and encouraged retirees to maintain a balanced perspective while the leadership navigates the necessary administrative processes.

He expressed his commitment to the welfare of the Force’s veterans, outlining two distinct avenues to ensure retirees’ grievances reach the highest levels of government: “first, through an executive liaison mechanism, retirees are encouraged to submit petitions directly to the IGP”.

Disu assured them to personally submit their documents to the President in advocacy for the signing of the pension bill and also by guaranteeing security for civic expression.