A 38 years old man who identified himself as Ejeh Attah Odang aka Ejeh Dagogo who is currently trekking from Lagos to Abuja to draw the attention of the National Assembly to the plights of members of the Armed Forces is currently in Lokoja having spent 29 days trekking through the forest.
Ejeh Dagogo said he has decided to embark on the onerous task because of his great love and passion for the members of the Armed Forces who he claimed are being overworked without commensurate renumeration and welfare package.
Fielding questions from newsmen in Lokoja the Kogi state capital on Monday, the Benue State born hugely built trekker said he encountered great danger from kidnappers, wild animals and other dangerous things while embarking on the trek through the bush and would sometimes have to hide himself for a while from those dangerous things before he could proceed on his journey.
“But for me I count these frequent dangerous encounters to my personal life in the bush as my own personal sacrifice to raise an awareness to all Nigerians and especially the National Assembly to the plights of these set of people who can not complain but obey the last order.
“I want the National Assembly to promulgate a law that will give members of the Armed Forces some kind of special treatment to accord them the needed respect they deserve as it is done in developed countries, like allowing them to board free intra city buses and paying like 50% cost for inter city journeys.
“For example, in Lagos city drivers don’t collect transport fares if they can recognize you wear military uniform, I give kudos to them but I want this to be enforced in all the cities and major towns in all the 36 states of the federation including Abuja,” he said.
Ejeh Dagogo who is expected to be received by the Chief of Defence Staff when he gets to Abuja will also meet with the Senate president and Speaker House of Representatives where he will officially present them a letter.
He said he started the trekking on Jan 15 after the celebration of the Armed Forces remembrance day at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos when Governor Sanwoolu launched the Armed Forces emblem.
