Defence Ministry Meets Protesting Ex-soldiers

Ibrahim Kana, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, is in a meeting with the leadership of the protesting ex-military personnel at the Ship House, in Olusegun Obasanjo Way, in Abuja.

A source at the Ministry, who spoke to Punch on the condition of anonymity, noted that the Permanent Secretary, acting on the orders of the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd.), is meeting with the ex-soldiers to convince them to suspend the ongoing protest.

He said, “The Permanent Secretary is currently meeting with the leadership of the protesting ex-soldiers at the moment.

“They were invited for the meeting with Mr Kana at his Conference Hall at the Ship House, to convince them to suspend the ongoing process.”

Punch gathered that the protesting military veterans, under the aegis of the Retired Members of Nigerian Armed Forces and the Coalition of Concerned Military Veterans, pitched a tent and slept over at the entrance of the Ministry of Defence’s building.

The ex-soldiers staged the third phase of their protests over the non-payment of their Security Debarment Allowance, among others.