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Female Soldier Insists Her Dismissal Was Cover-up For Abuse
Private Ruth Ogunleye, a former female soldier who was discharged by the Army has insisted that her discharge was part of a cover-up for the abuse she endured from her superior, Colonel I.B. Abdulkareem, at the Nigeria Army Cantonment Center in Ojo, Lagos.
In a live coverage by TVC, Ruth alleged that the abuse started when Col Abdulkareem invited her to meet him at a hotel near Ojo Cantonment, where he asked her to sleep with him.
Ruth said Abdulkareem promised to help her with schooling and offered her ₦50,000 if she agreed to his demands. However, she refused, stating that fraternizing with a senior officer is against the rules in the military. She said her refusal marked the beginning of a long period of harassment and mistreatment.
She alleged that Abdulkareem subjected her to abuse and made her life in the military unbearable. She said this mistreatment eventually led to her seeking redress, but her attempts to get justice within the army were ignored.
In Ruth’s words: “I was very surprised when Col IB Abdulkareem called me to a hotel opposite Ojo cantonment. When I got there he asked me to sleep with him and he promised that if I allow him to sleep with me he will allow me go to school and he promised to give me the sum of 50 thousand naira that very day. I refused because in the army it is against the law, you don’t fraternize with your senior. That is how the whole thing began, he started by maliciously dealing with me.
Although, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has earlier ordered a comprehensive investigation and after a thorough review of testimonies and evidence, the army found no grounds to substantiate Ogunleye’s claims against Colonel Abdulkareem.
