{"id":385736,"date":"2026-08-19T14:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/385736\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:37:13","slug":"ex-servicemen-protest-blocked-at-defence-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/385736\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-servicemen protest blocked at Defence Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Armed police and soldiers on Wednesday blocked retired military personnel from converging in front of the Ministry of Defence in Abuja, where the ex-servicemen had gathered to protest the non-implementation of consequential adjustments to their pensions.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2219046 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/defence2_1787131157.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"773\" height=\"577\"  \/>Credit: Solomon Odeniyi\n<\/p>\n<p>The protesters had attempted to move towards the front of the ministry as part of their planned demonstration, but more security personnel were mobilised to prevent them from assembling at the location.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2219048 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/defence3_1787131174.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"779\" height=\"574\"  \/>Credit: Solomon Odeniyi\n<\/p>\n<p>The development followed an earlier confrontation between serving soldiers and the retired military personnel after security operatives attempted to stop the ex-servicemen from staging their protest in front of the ministry.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2219051 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/defence4_1787131189.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"777\" height=\"552\"  \/>Credit: Solomon Odeniyi\n<\/p>\n<p>The retirees are demanding the implementation of consequential pension adjustments arising from salary increases approved for serving military personnel.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2219052 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/defence5_1787131203.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"765\" height=\"578\"  \/>Credit: Solomon Odeniyi<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, soldiers deployed to the ministry had moved against the protesters as they attempted to assemble at the premises, resulting in a confrontation between the serving and retired personnel.\n<\/p>\n<p>The heavy security presence subsequently prevented the ex-servicemen from converging at the front of the ministry as planned. <\/p>\n<p>Watch the video of the protesting ex-servicemen here<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud835\udc0f\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc1e, \ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc1b\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc24 \ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc31-\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2f\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc26\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc27 \ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc26 \ud835\udc29\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc20 \ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc26\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc32\n<\/p>\n<p>Armed police and soldiers on Wednesday blocked retired military personnel from converging in front of the Ministry of Defence in Abuja, where\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Orai9uzoBD\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Orai9uzoBD<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MobilePunch\/status\/2090005835309048304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                                                                <a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/author\/sodeniyi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Solomon Odeniyi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Solomon Odeniyi is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over six years of professional experience. He has covered key national beats including the judiciary, military, and police, and currently reports on anti-corruption and related issues. Solomon\u2019s work reflects a strong commitment to development-oriented reporting, public interest journalism, and accountability.<\/p>\n<p> All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contact\">Contact: <a href=\"http:\/\/punchng.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#afdbc7cacacbc6dbc0ddefdfdac1ccc7c1c881ccc0c2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> [email\u00a0protected] <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armed police and soldiers on Wednesday blocked retired military personnel from converging in front of the Ministry of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[45],"tags":[111397,16812,184538,184539,122,21933,18273,184540,184541,1179,13864,184542,184543,184544,2064,26011],"class_list":["post-385736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nigeria","tag-abuja-protest","tag-defence-ministry","tag-ex-servicemen","tag-military-pensions","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian-army","tag-nigerian-military","tag-pension-adjustments","tag-pension-arrears","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-protest-blocked","tag-retired-military","tag-retired-soldiers","tag-security-forces","tag-veterans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/117122685696459725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}