By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
A retired Master Warrant Officer, MWO, with the Nigerian Navy, NN, Edet Etim Okon, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Navy, to wade into the alledged maltreatment metted out to him by his former employer, the Nigerian Navy, who he served diligently for 32 years before being kicked out without being allowed to exhaust the normal 35 years, even when he committed no offence.
Okon made the appeal on Tuesday in Calabar while recounting his ordeal with the authority of the Nigerian Navy, NN.
He also appealed to the senator representing Cross River South in the National Assembly, Senator Asuquo Ekpeyong, to also intervene in the matter before issues get out of hand, saying that despite his cry in the last decade to several quarters to seek redress, nothing was done.
The 65-year-old Naval Master Warrant Officer decried how he was unlawfully kicked out of service without giving him access to his entitlement nor compensation for loss of property and son, leading to his wife deserting him during the years of service.
The retired Master Warrant Officer urged the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, to use his good office to get to the root of the matter so that succour can once again return to his life, stressing that the situation he found himself had rendered him pauperish, with nothing to hold on to, despite investing his youthful days to serve his dear nation.
He said, “I appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the senator representing Cross River South senatorial district, Senator Asuquo Ekpeyong, to intervene in this matter and get the authority of Nigerian Navy to restitute me for the losses I suffered when I diligently served my mother land.”
Giving an insight into his ordeal, the retired Master Warrant Officer, who is an indigene of Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State averred that he was enlisted into the Navy in 1981, stressing that he unfortunately lost his child, wife, and household property while on duty.
Edet claimed that despite his unblemish record in the service, he was kicked out of job before clocking 35 years of service, stressing that he is yet to get justice from the horrible experiences which he passed through.
He added, “This development led to me losing my wife and a girl-child deserting me, perhaps because I also lost the apartment given to me by the Navy at barracks Lagos.”
The retired MWO stated that upon enlistment into tbe service, he was sent to Navy Town and allocated Block 169, Apartment 11, where he lived.
He said that he was subsequently posted to Abuja, after the coup of General Muhammadu Buhari, adding there while there, his house at Navy Town was attacked.
He said, “They spoilt my door and put a junior officer in my apartment without my knowledge.”
He lamented that that singular action exposed his family to severe pains, rendering them homeless, resulting to the death of his three-month old son.
He said, “My wife waited for the Navy to eject that man from my apartment, but unfortunately all efforts proved abortive.
“Upon the death of my son, my wife left me, so I lost my son, wife, family, everything in my house, and even as I speak today, tbe Naval authority has not compensated me.”
The aggrieved MWO expressed shock when similar incident repeated itself again in 2000, when the officer in charge of allocating apartments again in Lagos sent one personnel to his apartment and they again broke into his apartment without notifying him.
He added, “As if that wasn’t enough, they forcefully got me retired in 2013 when my years of service wasn’t even due for reasons best known to the Naval authority.”
Okon accused the then Chief of Naval
Staff of not being fair to him for throwing him out of service prematurely, notwithstanding the fact that he wasn’t due for retirement without bothering to visit the issue of attack on the apartment and property that he lost to a junior colleague.
When our correspondent attempted to get the reaction of the Navy regarding the issue, the spokesperson Eastern Naval Command, Nigerian Navy Calabar, Segun Adebayo, said, “Why are you calling me on phone to ask me of such, am I the Director of Information of the Nigerian Navy? I have not met you before.”
