The Nigerian Army has dismissed a soldier for getting pregnant after she was allegedly raoed by suspected bandits in a trip to Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
The rape victim was found guilty of ‘conduct prejudicial to service discipline’ and sequentially dismissed from the regiment.
The soldier has, however, declined to on the issue when contacted on Wednesday via a phone call.
According to her lawyer, Johnson Oyewole, his client’s unlawful dismissal would be overturned and she would be vindicated.
According to an appeal to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, filed by her lawyer, the victim enlisted in the Army in March 2012 as a member of 67 Regular Recruits intake, and was serving with 56 Signal Command, Mile 2, Lagos, before the incident.
The letter, which challenged the soldier’s dismissal, read, ”It is manifest that the purported trial of our client was tainted with substantial irregularities; there is no offence under the law and no element of the offence of misconduct prejudicial to service discipline that talks of pregnancy while in service and warranted dismissal under section 103(1).”
She was taken to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, where she was treated for six days.
In December, when she reported sick at the Military hospital, the matron confirmed that she was 12 weeks pregnant.
