[size=18pt]Sex scandal rocks Army[/size]
• Female soldier drags commander to Defence Chief over sexual
harrasment, wrongful dismissal and detention
From AKEEB ALARAPE, IBADAN.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
• Private Adeniyi Abiodun
Photo: Sun News Publishing

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A female soldier, Private Adeniyi Abiodun, has accused her commanding officer, a colonel, (name witheld by us) of causing her dismissal and subsequent detention for two months because she allegedly refused him sex

Just as the military authorities were battling to redeem its image over the seized allowances of some soldiers on peace-keeping mission to Sudan, another bubble burst at the weekend as a female soldier, Private Adeniyi Abiodun, cried out to the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Paul Dike, over her wrongful dismissal from the Nigerian Army for refusing sexual advances of her commanding officer.

In a petition, signed by Abiodun’s lawyer, Barrister Peters Adonu of Zion Chambers, Ibadan, copy of which was made available to Daily Sun, Abiodun not only decried her dismissal from the Army in far away Sudan but her subsequent two months detention after she had been dismissed.

Abiodun, who was part of the 3rd Batch (Chalk) of the 195 Mechanized Battalion of the United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNAAMID), Policy and Plans Department, told Daily Sun how she was traumatized and victimized in Sudan by the commanding officer for refusing his advances in 2005, while serving at the Guards Brigade, Abuja.

“What happened was that since 2005, he has been disturbing me. Not even only me but all girls he set his eyes on. If eight girls were in the garrison, he would want to have sex with all of them. So, when he talked to me, I told him I was not interested,” Abiodun stated.

She said at a point, when the pressure was too much on her, another colonel came to her rescue and posted her to the Directorate of Army Policy and Planning, Army Headquarters, Abuja on request. But on learning about her posting, Abiodun said that her boss ordered that she be ejected from her quarters at 1a.m, saying ‘they said they gave me only 30 minutes to pack out that night’.
According to her, the timely intervention of other senior officers saved the day for her as they prevailed on the colonel to stop her illegal ejection.

She disclosed that a brief respite, however, came her way later in the year when the rampaging boss was promoted and transferred to Maiduguri. But in 2008, she was nominated for peace-keeping mission to Sudan. The nomination, which ordinarily should be a thing of joy to her, later turned sour when she got to know that her tormentor was the commanding officer of the troop.
Hardly had they landed in Sudan than her trouble started as she was posted to the trench on the order of the C.O contrary to her training as a clerical officer.

“He asked them to put me in the trench where soldiers used to watch the enemy. He posted one other lady, Nkechi and I to the trench. From the trench they put us on patrol and later the military police headquarters. Nkechi and I were the first ladies to be put on patrol which was day and night shift before the sector commander, a Senegalese, ordered that no lady should be put on night patrol again”, Abiodun added.

Her posting experiences were to be followed by other ordeals as she had to contend with the hostile environment her C.O. weaved around her. But after successfully participating in the peace-keeping mission and about a month to returning home, Abiodun’s love deal with a Nigerian police officer, DSP Oluyinka Hassan, who was also on peace-keeping mission in Sudan, led her into the trap set by the C.O.

According to her, the second-in-command to the officer in charge of her unit (O.C), invited her to his tent for a talk. But unknown to her, her newly found love police officer was also lurking around. Hardly had she entered the room of his 2-i-c than the DSP entered!

“We have come to the end of our mission. We have 11 days to go home. We had completed our mission on December 7 and incident happened on December 27. I was in full military uniform and not that they met me doing anything in the room. I know it was a set up. If they met me naked, they would have taken my photograph as evidence. But they met me fully dressed. My O.C too can testify to this”, Abiodun said.

She said the C.O had immediately convoked a board of inquiry where she was pronounced guilty and given summary dismissal. She was asked to pack her belongings from the barracks. Abiodun disclosed that she was later taken right to the military guardroom at the Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, where she was detained for two months.

“All the way from the airport, they took me to the guardroom at Abacha Barracks. But when they dismiss somebody, they take you straight to your house to go and pack your load. In my case, they took me to the guardroom. They kept me there from December 26 to February 23. This is why I am petitioning the Chief of Defence Staff to look into my case. I worked in the Army headquarters; I know what they do to petitions like this. They will not even allow it to get to the Chief of Army Staff”, she added, which is why she had gone to the Press.

In the petition signed by her lawyers, the Defence Chief was urged to discreetly look into the matter and ensure justice is done to Private Abiodun to serve as a deterrent to other officers.
“It was the prompt intervention of the new Provost Marshal that delivered our client from her continuous imprisonment for a period of two months after she had purportedly seized to be bound by military law! We respectfully condemn this selfish and barbarous act.

“We humbly crave your indulgence to wade into this matter with the aim of conducting an unbiased investigation by calling the concerned parties to unravel the truth and reinstate our client who was maliciously dismissed from the Nigerian Army. Our client is ready to produce overwhelming evidence of persistent sexual harassment, intimidation, dehumanization and abuse.” We quite believe in you as a righteous officer and a just General”, parts of the petition read.