Retired naval officers, on Monday, threatened to storm the naval headquarters if their allowances were not paid on time.

The retired officers and ratings, who left service in June 2019, lamented that their terminal leave and packing allowances had not been paid, despite numerous appeals to the successive naval chiefs.

The officers, in a letter signed by the Secretary of the Coalition of Concerned Veterans, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, made available to journalists on Monday, said they would not mind if they were killed for occupying the naval headquarters to demand the payment of their allowances.

“It is to be noted that the Security Debarment Allowance and the Pension and Gratuity paid by DHQ and MPB respectively to the same retirees about two months after their retirement in June 2019 were calculated based on Reference B.

“If these payments were duly paid as stated, why should the Navy disobey the authority of the C-in-C by refusing to pay the due entitlements as contained in the MAFA?

“Therefore, the claims by Rear Admiral K.M. Bushi that the MAFA was not funded until 2020 cannot be true, judging from the above payments. This is mere negligence of duty on the part of the former Chief of Accounts and Budget, for not including it in the Navy budget of 2019, if his claim is true.

“Furthermore, if the assertion of the very senior officer is to be taken seriously, what stops him from including it in the 2020 budget, even if it was arrears, after all, he admitted that the MAFA covered the concerned retirees since it was signed on January 26, 2018, with an effective date of November 9, 2017, while the officers and ratings retired on June 24, 2019,” the statement said.

The veterans warned that their patience was running out, asking the Navy high command to see to their requests.

“Our patience is running out and the least the Navy would do is to kill all of us by the time we occupy its headquarters to demand our rights and entitlements, while the general public and the world will judge if our demands are legitimate or not,” the statement concluded.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigerian Navy, Air Commodore Aiwuyo Adams-Aliu, said, “Findings reveal that this issue has been ongoing and originated long before the present Chief of the Naval Staff assumed command of the Nigerian Navy.