By Kemi Yesufu
I was scrolling through the hugely popular social media platform, TitTok, when I bumped into a video shared by Ruth Ogunleye on her page, @Ogunleyeruthsavage1. As a feminist and gender reporter, I immediately became interested in her astonishing and depressing story. I clicked on her page to watch older videos in which she shared her experience. The long and short of Ruth’s narrative is that she was sexually assaulted, mentally and physically abused for a long period by an officer she identified as Col I.B. Abdulkareem. Ultimately, Ruth was discharged from the army based on what she insists is a false claim of her being mentally ill and therefore unfit to continue serving in the army.
On social media and later in mainstream media, Ruth has been consistent in her allegation that the said officer sexually harassed her, pointed a gun at her head, locked her up in his office for days, had her confined in the psychiatric ward for months and even had her carried in a body bag which even non-medical professionals like me know is strictly used to convey corpses!
Thanks to the deep penetration of social media, weeks after my following Ruth’s posts, the Nigerian Army addressed a press conference to state its position on the former soldier’s claims. Predictably so, the Nigerian Army countered the former soldier’s narratives, insisting that due process was followed before she was discharged.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, September 24th, the Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, said that the army thoroughly investigated Ruth’s allegations and found the officer she accused did not commit the offences as alleged.
“It is crucial to assert that the Nigerian Army, in its bid to ensure justice and transparency, conducted an exhaustive review of the facts, testimonies, and evidence presented. The investigation concluded that Colonel I.B Abdulkareem did not commit the offence of sexual harassment as alleged by ex-Private Ruth Ogunleye. The findings were definitive and based on an objective evaluation of the available information”, he said.
According to the Army’s spokesman, Ruth had been recommended for discharge on medical grounds since 2022, but the Nigerian Army, showing sympathy, provided her with the best possible medical treatment before discharging her into civilian life.
He added, “While the Army was addressing the allegations of sexual harassment, further concerns regarding Ruth Ogunleye’s conduct came to light. Her behavior, both online and offline, raised questions about her deteriorating mental health and emotional stability.” Onyema further stated that medical reports following an evaluation at the National Hospital in Abuja indicated that Ruth Ogunleye was suffering from a condition that rendered her medically vulnerable.
I must commend my constituency, the media, for reaching out to Ruth after the press conference by the Nigerian Army. The Nigerian media in reaching out to Ruth displayed a high level of professionalism and independence. In giving Ruth, a lone, powerless, voice confronting the behemoth, that is the Nigerian Army platforms to speak out, the Nigerian media also showed its historical bias for the downtrodden, the underdog who might as well have his/her say even if they would not have their way. In her appearances on TV and in an interview with Punch, Ruth remained consistent in her call for justice and her narrative of the appalling events which ultimately led to her discharge from the army.
“On February 27, 2022, he called and summoned me to meet him at the Eagleston Hotel by 5pm. When I arrived, he said he wanted to have sex with me. He offered me N50,000 to do that and even promised to help me get admitted into a military school. I refused, reminding him that it was against the Nigerian Army’s code of conduct for superiors to engage in sexual relations with subordinates”, Ruth told Punch.
She added: “After that encounter, he became vindictive and began to maliciously deal with me, subjecting me to extra duties and unjust punishment. He later began injecting me with largactil, a drug typically administered to mentally ill patients to sedate them”.
Asked if she was conscious while he was injecting her, she replied: “Yes, but I had no choice. He would either point a gun at me or have soldiers pin me down before injecting me. Sometimes, he would personally handcuff me. He would also instruct the doctors in our unit to administer the drug. After being injected, I would be unconscious for days, completely unable to function. After sexually assaulting me, he would put me in a body bag and order that I be dumped at a psychiatric hospital”.
As a gender reporter with over a decade of experience, Ruth and the Army’s disclosure that she was declared mentally ill and sent for medical examination at the National Hospital Abuja after her allegations of sexual, mental and physical abuse by a superior is what makes the former soldier’s story emblematic of the struggles of many women in the workplace. Ruth is not the first woman to be dismissed as ‘mad’ after she accused her male superior of sexual assault or vindictive revenge upon rejecting sexual advances. Focusing on the army Punch published a well-researched feature on the hidden trend of sexual harassment in the armed forces-https://punchng.com/female-soldiers-unending-battle-with-depression-abandonment-after-rejecting-randy-superiors/#google_vignette.
Ironically, the same hospital where Rita was taken for examination once had a case in which a nurse alleged that the former Chief Medical Director sexually harassed her and when she took the matter to court, she was declared mentally ill by the management of the hospital, while the CMD denied ever approaching her. The media also gave a good account of itself in reporting the National Hospital sexual harassment case years back.
Ruth’s case is also symbolic as it presents the Nigerian Army and Nigeria as a country, with a glaring opportunity to change the narrative. Many would agree that Nigeria is dealing with what Prof O.V.C Okene of the Rivers State University described as a pandemic in his March 1, 2023, academic publication titled, “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in Nigeria: An Appraisal”. Indeed, Sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace are rife in Nigeria. It is a pandemic that needs to be eradicated.
Therefore, it is disappointing that General Christopher Musa, Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, told Arise TV, that Ruth’s case even if reviewed will have the same outcome. He said, “Review- of course- it’s possible to have a review. I’m sure it will not come out any different. That I can guarantee you”, he told his interviewers. Perhaps, the Chief of Defence Staff who the embattled soldier once described in a few of her videos as decent and highly professional needs to be convinced through advocacy like this op-ed to use the Ruth Ogunleye’s case, which has gained prominence, to introduce a well-defined code of conduct for the Nigerian Armed Forces. The new code should be centered on the safety of female soldiers and officers. Key to the stricter and clearly articulated new code of conduct for the Armed Forces is the shortening and simplification of the process of reporting sexual harassment, as well as the establishment of a unit staffed by personnel with multi-disciplinary qualifications to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and victimisation of female soldiers. This is not too much to ask as women’s rights are human rights.
It is even more pertinent to position the Armed Forces as role-model institutions for women’s safety in the workplace as more young women are passing out from the Nigerian Defence Academy, or are women to wait for when these female officers get appointed as Chiefs of the armed forces branches or Chief of Defence Staff to have the protection of women codified? This would be an excruciatingly long wait.
Returning to Ruth, I and her other followers on TikTok, did watch a few videos based on which Gen Musa told Arise TV that the former soldier went personal with him and other officers who tried to intervene in her matter. “This same lady you are talking about did not start this year. It has been ongoing for a very long time. “Everybody had tried to assist the lady to ensure that she was properly taken care of. We tried to assist her, but one thing people don’t understand is that everybody that tried to help her, she came after the person and maligned them”, Musa told Arise TV.
But as mentioned earlier, this article is a form of advocacy and this is why I urge the CDS to see the outbursts from Ruth against him and certain officers as her lashing out in frustration. In Nigeria, we should begin to see anger and frustration as valid emotions in circumstances like that of a young soldier whose hope and dreams of a long and fulfilling military career were truncated under circumstances she couldn’t have imagined. Ruth has also alleged that she constantly receives death threats. How many individuals in Ruth’s situation would remain temperate and calm in expression? Certainly not the ‘Soro-Soke’ generation which Ruth belongs to, a generation that fully exploits the vastness and penetration of social media. Nevertheless, Ruth’s love and pride for the Nigerian Army is an underlying feature of the majority of her videos on TikTok, therefore her discharge under controversial circumstances couldn’t have left the former Private in a joyful and appreciative state, rather the opposite is the case as seen in her videos.
In conclusion, Ruth Ogunleye needs mental and financial rehabilitation and this is where feminist NGOs must come in. The minister for Women’s Affairs, Barr. Uju Kenedy-Ohanneye has met with the former soldier, promising to train her in ICT, but her rehabilitation and reintroduction to civilian life should be carried out by professionals committed to holding her hand until she is back on her feet.
Kemi Yesufu, the CEO/Editor-in-Chief of Frontline News Online, wrote in from Abuja. She can be reached at Lekems@yahoo.com
