Nigerian soldier dismissed after alleging rape hits out

A soldier sacked by the Nigerian military after she accused some senior officers of rape and sexual harassment has released a video condemning her treatment.

Ex-private Ruth Ogunleye made the allegations via her TikTok account in January, saying she had suffered immensely as a result of her ordeal at the hands of a general and two colonels.

Her allegations caused widespread outrage in Nigeria and prompted the women’s minister to discuss the case with the army chief.

After an investigation, the army dismissed her allegations and said the soldier had been discharged on medical grounds as she suffers from a condition that makes her vulnerable, without giving further details.

Ms Ogunleye has now released a second video on Tiktok, in which she calls for the investigation to be made public and describes how she was raped and given an injection by those she accused.

“Firstly I want to thank [army spokesman] General Onyema Nwachukwu for posting me on all social media platforms, newspapers, it shows how powerful I am,” she said.

“January 9th 2024, I came on social media to complain of how I was harassed, of how I was raped and how I was injected and put inside a casket.

“How I had a gun pointed at me, was handcuffed and kept inside an office for some days.

“I want to beg the Nigerian army to post the outcome of the investigation on all social media platforms, so that the world would know what transpired,” she noted.

The outcome of the investigation was revealed by Gen Nwachukwu on Tuesday evening.

“Upon receipt of her complaint, the Nigerian Army referred the matter to the Military Police for a thorough investigation. The investigation concluded that Colonel I.B Abdulkareem did not commit the alleged offences,” he said.

He said Ms Ogunleye had been discharged after refusing to get medical treatment from either the National Hospital in the capital, Abuja, or the Nigerian Army.

He went on to accuse her of propagating “false narratives against Colonel Abdulkareem and other senior officers [and] using online platforms to engage in cyberbullying and defamation”.

However, women’s rights activists have called for an independent investigation.

“The army is known for not wanting to wash its dirty linen in public,” Hadiza Ado, founder of Women and Children Initiative, told the BBC.

“If the army investigation are saying she had a medical condition which affects her, then for how long was she in the service with that condition, why coming out to say it now that she was dismissed?” she asked.