They came out in their numbers to witness the last Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Makurdi and with much nostalgia managed to cheer the galant display of the military personnel on parade at the event.
This, before the demise of their spouses, was their constituency. They were wives of soldiers who lived in barracks across the country and still shared the fond memories of life in the barracks. But the death of the husbands have left them in bewildered and pondering how life has been so unkind and unfair to the women who managed the home front while their late husbands defended the nation in war fronts.
Today fate has dealt them the devastating blow of struggling for survival with their children. And according to them, their situation has been worsened by the failure and nonchalance of those whose responsibility it is to avail them the benefits accruable to the dependents of these former soldiers.
In their respective accounts to Arewa Voice, the widows in emotion-laden voices appealed to the military authorities to give them reasons to still relish every moment their husbands spent in the armed forces by ensuring the prompt payment of their benefits to augment their livelihoods and support their families.They also appealed to the military authorities to put in place a scholarship scheme for children of the late ex-servicemen to assist in checking incidents of out of school children of the late service personnel. (Vanguard)