Female soldier arrested for accepting marriage proposal from a corps member while on duty. Nigerians wonder what’s the offence.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A female soldier, simply identified as Hannah Sofiat A, is being held in detention by the Nigerian Army for accepting a love proposal from a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kwara State.
A video of the two love birds appeared on social media with the male corps member kneeling and inserting a ring on the finger of the soldier at the NYSC camp in Kwara State.
The two lovebirds later hugged and kissed to the applause of other youth corps members.
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News about the arrest and detention of the female soldier later leaked amid protest by Nigerians who wondered what could be the offence of the lady.
Activist, Yele Sowore, said the Nigerian Army is wrong to detain the female soldier for accepting marriage proposal in uniform since it is not an offence in the military.
“There is no law that prevents anyone from accepting a marriage proposal in military uniform but as it is typical of the pre-civilization Nigerian military she was clamped into detention at Sobi Military Cantonment in Ilorin, Kwara state,” he said.
A tweet from @Nnemere_Ezeoka said: “If you check well…I believe there’s some of her ogas at the top that have eyes on her already…cos I see nothing wrong in accepting a marriage proposal while on duty.”
@Eyebrow23708154 said: “Perhaps her commander is angry at her after making advances. Na Naija we dey. It’s common for abuse of power so sad!!!”
Meanwhile. the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, was quoted by Punch as saying the female soldier violated military laws by getting involved in a public display of amorous relationship with a paramilitary trainee – a corps member.
He claimed the female soldier violated the Nigerian Army’s rules and regulations guiding the codes of conduct of military personnel when deployed for duty.
Nwachukwu said the female soldier’s action amounted to taking advantage of her trainee, noting that the public would have been outraged and accused the Army of coercion had a male soldier proposed to a female corper during NYSC parade.
