Nigerian Army reacts as female soldier accuses senior officers of sexual abuse

 

The Nigerian Army has claimed that the female soldier, Ruth Ogunleye who accused three senior officers of making her life unbearable, did not explore all the internal mechanisms in the system to redress such allegation. 

 

Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu said while the Army would conduct thorough investigation of the allegation, the soldier in question has not exhausted the laid down procedure for seeking redress. 

 

Backstory

 

The female soldier, Ruth Ogunleye, alleged that some superiors, whom she identified as Col. IB Abdulkareem, Col. GS Ogor, and Brig. Gen. IB Solebo, have made her life unbearable.

 

Ruth Ogunleye holds Col. IB Abdulkareem particularly responsible for the difficulties she has faced in the Army.

 

Ruth Ogunleye claimed that Abdulkareem had made repeated attempts to assault her, administered injections against her will, forcibly removed her from her residence, and confined her in a psychiatric hospital for several months.

 

She added that the officer has hindered her career advancement by denying her promotion courses because she allegedly rejected his advances.

 

She said, “In 2022, I was posted to Cantonment Medical Centre, Ojo, where I met Col IB Abdulkareem who requested sex from me and I refused. Ever since then, this man has been my nightmare in the Army, threatening to dismiss me each time.

 

“He comes to my room to inject me in my apartment. Send some boys to my house. If I’m lying I have all evidence. I have evidence against him and I have witnesses.

 

“He also stigmatised me that I have mental illness. Each time I try to expose him or each time any senior person or any senior officer tries to intervene, he will tell them I have a mental illness.

 

“He [froze] my account for one year. February last year till date, no salary.

 

“Anytime he feels like he wants to embarrass me, he asks some soldiers to beat me. After beating me up, they will inject me. He will ask one Funke Ayeni, she is a female soldier, and he will ask her to set me up. She will set me up, inject me and they will go and throw me somewhere. At the end of the day, this Brig. Gen. IB Solebo and some of those senior colonel, they will come to that place, they will be videoing me,” she added.

 

Ogunleye appealed to Nigerians for support.

 

She acknowledged the potential consequences of her actions, anticipating a possible arrest.

 

According to her, her father has tried to intervene with Col. IB Abdulkareem to bring her some peace.

 

She claimed the officer told her father  to relay the message to her to “Obey the last command.”

 

She said the “last order” was for the colonel to “sleep with me.”