By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore on Monday led a protest to the Force Headquarters in Abuja over poor welfare and pension conditions affecting serving and retired police officers.
The protest, organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Retired Police Officers, demanded urgent pension reforms and called for the removal of police personnel from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The aggrieved protesters, who were initially denied entry into the Force Headquarters, were later escorted by police officers as they proceeded to the National Assembly complex.
Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Decent Salaries Now,” “End Police Slavery,” “Pensions for Police Officers,” “Dignity for Those in Uniform,” and “CPS is a death sentence,” the demonstrators insisted that the current pension system is unjust and dehumanising.
The retired officers had earlier vowed to picket the National Assembly in a renewed push for legislative intervention in what they described as a prolonged neglect of their welfare.