Retired Police Officers Storm Villa Gate Over Pension Scheme

The demonstrators blocked one of the gates leading to the Presidential Villa on Monday to press home their demands.

They described the scheme as “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane, and obnoxious”.

The protest was led by Raphael Irowainu, the national coordinator of the group and a retired chief superintendent of police (CSP).

The retirees said their protest was aimed at urging President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the national assembly on December 4, 2025, and forwarded to the presidency on March 16, 2026. 

They argued that the proposed law would remove police personnel from what they termed a “slavery and untimely death inducing pension scheme”.

Speaking to journalists, Irowainu said the group’s primary objective was to ensure the President signs the bill into law.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that,” Irowainu said.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme.” 

They were subsequently received by Akpabio who said the senate would immediately align with the house of representatives, which had passed a bill to exempt the NPF from the CPS. 

A statement issued by Jackson Udom, special assistant on media to the senate president, quoted Akpabio as saying the policy was “not well thought out” and had imposed unnecessary hardship on police personnel who risk their lives to secure the country.

“Take it that you have to disperse from the gate. That problem, as far as the law is concerned, is over,” he said.

The senate president said he is confident that President Bola Tinubu, “being a listening president”, would sign the legislation into law.

He stated that the scheme is “certainly not good for security personnel”.

Akpabio questioned why the police had remained under the CPS while other security agencies, including the military, DSS and NIA, had been exempted.

🚨 BREAKING: Watch the full clip here ➤