No fewer than 53 policemen, serving in the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja, say they have yet to be paid their Risk Caution Allowances since 2015, when they were posted to the Presidency.

This was disclosed in an anonymous petition that the policemen filed to President Muhammadu Buhari and which was obtained by our correspondent.

It was gathered that apart from the 53, who had allegedly not been paid their allowances at all, there are 127 other policemen who claimed that they had yet to be paid their allowances in full.

According to the petition, the 53 policemen have been languishing in poverty over the past two years with their allowances being withheld. They urge the President to look into the matter.

One of the affected policemen, who spoke with one of our correspondents and pleaded not to be named, confirmed that the Risk Caution Allowances had not been paid since 2015.

“We have names in the petition to prove to the government that we are not lying. The authorities in the Villa should invite those persons and find out from them. We believe that the President is not aware of this delay. The allowances may have been approved a long time ago and mismanaged by a few powerful officers in the Villa. That is our fear,” the policeman said.

The petition is titled, “President Muhammadu Buhari’s mobile policemen plead over unpaid Risk Caution Allowances from May 2015 to date.

It read in part, “About 127 police officers attached to the Presidency have not been paid the balance of their risk caution allowances and about 53 mobile police officers that started working with the present government since 2015 have not been paid anything.

“The 53 policemen since the past two years have been languishing in poverty. Most of these policemen did the data capture and were given the presidential tags. Those behind this delay are some of the superior officers like the Squadron, the Principal Staff Officer and the leader of the Presidential Vehicle Movement.

“The excuse given by the superior officers was that the affected policemen were boys to the former Squadron leader, one SP Mau’su.

“These superiors have started transferring these affected policemen out of the Villa to some states and replacing them with their own boys, who did not suffer and were not there to bear what the policemen went through. We are pleading with our father and President, Muhammadu Buhari, to look into these sufferings from the beginning of his government till date.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, however, said all allowances and salaries of policemen attached to any place were being paid regularly, noting that they had yet to get such complaint from the Villa.

Moshood said, “The emoluments contain the salaries and allowances. Outside that, there is also insurance coverage provided by the Force and the Federal Government.

“This set of people you talk about have not complained to the Force headquarters. We don’t have such complaints. The police are not aware of any risk allowance being owed anyone.”

A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said police authorities should be blamed for the non-payment of the RCA of some of their men posted to the Presidential Villa.

The source explained that the problem was caused by police authorities, who he said kept posting more men into the Presidential Villa than the number that could be catered for.

He, however, said not all policemen fell into the category of those that had not been paid.

Punch