By Andrew Utulu / Correspondent, Lagos
More than three weeks after some widows living in Mobile Police Unit 20 barracks commanded by Olubode Ojajuni, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) and one-time Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, were ejected, their pains and anguish have continued unabated
Alice E. Belo, widow of late Sergeant Belo in tears
Some of the widows and their children are still struggling to have a roof over their heads, while some still have their belongings littering the barracks.
Speaking on her experience, Mrs. Stella Mubo, wife of the late Inspector Simon Mubo, an indigene of Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State said: “It was on Wednesday, May 20, 2014, that we, the widows in Mopol 20 Barracks, were invited by the commander, Mopol 20, CSP Ojajuni. We went to his office at Oduduwa, GRA, Ikeja, with high hopes that good things were coming on our way, being widows whose husbands died in active duty, and still awaiting their due benefits and entitlements to be paid.
“But instead, we got a shocking news of our lives from Ojajuni that we should pack out of the barracks with immediate effect. We appealed to him to give us time because he told us to pack on Saturday, the same week he called us, that we have not been paid our husbands’ benefits. He told us he did not want to hear or know that we have not been paid.
“That since we are widows in the barracks, that if there is any problem, they cannot defend us, they cannot deal with us, that we should pack. I begged him to give us time but he refused. He said if I want to beg, I should go to Abuja and beg, but when I kept begging, he said I should leave his office. The following day, he brought the quit notice and three days later, on Sturday, 31 May, they came early in the morning with a truckload of Mobil Policemen and threw our belongings out. As I am speaking with you now, all our loads are still outside. We don’t have anywhere to go. How can somebody serve the Federal Government for almost 30 years, and die in active service and his widow and children are thrown out just like that without paying their entitlements.”
She continued: “We were just given only three days to pack and on the third day they came to throw us out. My children and I have been sleeping outside since then, as there’s nowhere to go.”
According to Mrs. Mubo, her husband died on August 22, 2010. “Since then his entitlements have not been paid. The only thing I received was burial expenses and after that, nothing else. I have been running up and down, borrowing money to pursue the payment.
“I don’t really know what is the problem, I have been going to the pension alliance and they have been telling me the money is not ready, that I should come back. I was even there last week. This week Monday, I was there and I have not been paid. I don’t know what the problem is,” she said.
She lamented that her husband was involved in an accident and was rushed to the hospital where he died, saying: “Since then, I have been managing with my children. I have two children.
“It has been difficult for us to collect our husbands’ benefits years after they died, but the police authority is not doing anything about it. They are not assisting us to facilitate quick payment of our late husbands’ entitlements.
“I feel very sad. Since we were thrown out, I have not been eating. The injustice is too much. This will not encourage me to advise any of my children to join the police force. The way things are done is not encouraging. They made me to cry and cry everyday. No help from anybody. All my belongings are still outside. I want the police authority to pay us so that we can get accommodation.”
According to her, the police claim that “some of us have stayed between seven and eight years does not hold water. Myself, it is just three years and few months ago that my husband died and I have not been paid, so they are just using that as an excuse. It is a case of giving dog a bad name in order to kill it; they should have identified those who have been paid rather than throwing us all out. How can you give somebody three days quit notice and force the person out of the house within three days? How can the police, who are responsible for law and order, do this? Can a landlord under the law issue three days quit notice to a tenant and go ahead to execute it? If such a matter is reported to the police, how would they handle it?” she queried.
“They should go to the office and confirm. It is Pension Alliance that will pay, and they have not paid me. They should go to their office and confirm if it is true that they have paid me or not. If I have been paid, why should I still be in the barracks? Am I enjoying my life there? I am suffering there. There is even no renovation there. The houses are even old and expired.
“When they came, I was not around; they forced the door open and threw my things out. That was what they did to us.
“Another victim, Mrs. Alice E. Bello, from Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, said that before the death of her husband, they lived at Block 1, Flat 7, Mopol 20 Barracks.
“What led to the police throwing my property out of the house was that they gave me just two days quit notice. They brought the notice on Thursday and on Friday, we went to their office to beg them to give us more time because we have not collected our husbands’ benefits. My husband died in a motor accident in 2010.
“Since then, they have not paid us his benefit. Even the burial money, they have not paid me. When I went there, they told me they did not see the file. That is what happened that they have not paid us till now.
“Then on Friday, we went to see the Commissioner of Police to beg him for more time; we were told he was not on seat and were directed to an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Iloh, who is the AC Administration. She promised that she would beg for us to stay for extra one or two weeks. She even called CSP Ojajuni in our presence on phone who told her he was in a meeting with IG in Abuja, that he only had to come out to receive her call. But on Saturday morning, I was not at home; I was on duty because I’m managing cleaning work somewhere. Before I returned, they had broken my door and thrown my things out.”
She said she is a cleaner at Saint Leo Catholic Church Medical Centre, adding: “I have two children. I was not working before the death of my husband, and after his death, when I came to the command headquarters, they said that I should not fold my hands and that I should have to look for something to do because it will take long before the benefits will be paid.
“Since then, I have been suffering, selling fufu, pepper, okra inside the barracks before I started looking for work because I was living from hand to mouth on a daily basis. If I sell, I will eat, if I did not sell, I will not see something to eat with my children. My husband was promoted to a sergeant, but he did not hang the rank before he died. He died in accident on Ikorodu Road. Now, I do not have a place to lay my head.
“I distributed my property when rain started to destroy them. The chair and everything were affected by the downpour which happened a day after the incident. I had no place to put my load. Though there is a sister that decided to help me, my children and I sleep in the corridor. That is where we are still sleeping till now.
“They claimed that some people have been settled and they have spent up to seven to eight years in the barracks. It is a lie., I have not collected a kobo. If l had collected benefits what is the need of wasting time in the barracks?
“They will tell you to go and bring paper from where your husband joined the police. My husband joined at Sokoto, they said I should go and bring letter from there. Then they demanded for money. They said you should give them transport money that they want to collect the paper from Abuja. They demand between N3,000 to N5,000.
“Even some of our children are out of schools because there is no money to continue their education. Some who have graduated from secondary school cannot enter the university. We struggle to feed them and now, the police authority have thrown us out,” they said.
When Saturday Independent visited the place last Sunday evening, after the downpour, some of the personal items of the victims were seen in pool of water, as the widows have not been able to relocate.
A copy of the quit notice signed by one Usman M. Nasarawa, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP and O/C PMF 20 Provost, for Commanding Officer, Police Mobile Force, 20 Squadron, Ikeja dated May 28, 2014, reads: “It has come to my notice that despite the fact that you have been transferred/demobilised/retired from the Squadron/Force long ago, you are still occupying the Squadron’s official quarters/barracks, which your continuous occupation of this quarters is illegal and contrary to IGP’s circular Ref. No. CH: 7970/FS/148 of 30th January, 1990 and CH: 7700?PER?FHQ?ABJ.T/1 Dated 22nd October,1999.
You are, therefore, given up to 30 May, 2014, i.e three days, to vacate your quarters or you will be forcefully ejected after expiration of this notice.”
It was gathered that only about two or three including a man who had since retired have been paid but don’t want to leave.
Efforts to reach both the Commissioner of Police Lagos State Police Command, Umar Manko, and the command’s imagemaker, Ngozi Braide, for comments were not fruitful as their lines were not connecting when calls were put across to their phones.
However, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who received his call could not comment on the incident but referred us to the Commander, Mopol 20, Ojajuni who said the decision was final as the barracks is for easy mobilisation of serving mobile police officers.
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