According to witness --- "How did a retired soldier of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria come to ugly sight
In fact, at exactly 9am in the morning I took a position in front of UBA
bank at Lokoja. Somehow, I saw group of people gathered near an old
man, whose face has known decades of suffering. It seems that his jacket
is a replica of those worn in the Cowboys movies of the 70's. His
shorts shared identity with the dirts on the road. His body has not seen
water for months I guess
:
I drew closer to the crowd. ..I enquired from one of the women what was
the matter. She replied " na witch...na God catch am today". All this
time, the man was suspended in between life and death...he was
uncounsciuos and was assumed to be dead.
A young spirited man poured a
sachet of water on the man's head. Behold,he opened his eyes to the
admiration of the crowd
:
Futhermore, the youngman offered some water to the "old man". He drank
hastily and his eyes became brighter. Sooner or later, he led us into
his ordeal which began in 2013, he told the listening crowd how he was
owed pension and how matters became worst during the course of this
year.
He has been owed over 8months. Sooner or later, some spirited
individuals bought food for him to eat
Others offered to take him to the hospital. But then, the old man
rejected all the offer. He said 'I got my pension today'. He went
further to say the joy of receiving his pension led to his state of
unconsciousness
:
Immediately the neglect of pensioners came to the limelight, the men in
the crowd talked randomly. Majority blamed Buhari regime,others
suggested that it was inherited from the previous regime
:
Nonetheless, what became immediately clear was that some strange
phenomenon are at once attributed to the "occult or the workings of the
invisible hands". More so, 'poverty, hagardness' was also captured in
the image of 'oldness'
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