Instead of birthday cakes and merrymaking, veteran broadcaster Patrick Ikedigwe marked his special day with a desperate plea — for Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo to remember him and his colleagues who once gave their voices to Anambra.
Ikedigwe, a retired journalist of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), said his only birthday wish was for the governor to direct the immediate payment of the ₦10,000 monthly pension benefit which he approved for state pensioners — but which ABS retirees are yet to receive.
With a tone that betrays both faith and frustration, the elderly journalist turned his personal celebration into a public cry for help.
“Today is my birthday,” Ikedigwe wrote. “I am grateful to Yahweh, the Elohim of the Spirits of all flesh, for sparing my life after three near-death encounters.
But my one wish is that His Excellency will remember ABS pensioners. We have not been paid the ₦10,000 approved for all pensioners.”
He lamented that unlike their counterparts in ministries, pensioners from the state-owned broadcasting outfit — who laboured for decades shaping the state’s image and informing the public — have been left out of the governor’s welfare gesture.
“I need not tell Your Excellency the importance of the state media outfit,” he stressed. “I pray he gives an executive order for those responsible to pay ABS pensioners.
“I shall be exceedingly grateful if my birthday gift from the governor will be the payment of this benefit.”
Many in Awka say the plight of Ikedigwe reflects the broader struggles of pensioners who feel forgotten despite years of dedicated service.
For them, the ₦10,000 is not mere money, but dignity, recognition, and survival in these harsh economic times.
As he marked another year in quiet reflection, the former broadcaster left his message hanging in the air — hoping the governor would hear and act.
‘Happy birthday to myself,” he signed off, his pen doubling as both microphone and megaphone for all neglected ABS pensioners.
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