Lt.-Gen. Yahaya orders immediate release of romantic soldier

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya had on Saturday, 25th December 2021 ordered the immediate release of a detained female soldier, Private Hannah Sofiyat Akinlabi

Akinlabi was detained after video clips where she was seen accepting a marriage proposal from a male corps member at the NYSC orientation camp in Kwara, went viral on social media.

The Army’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu said the above-mentioned soldier was detained for alleged ‘professional misconduct’ and disobedience to standing order and violation of the rules guiding military personnel on social media.

Speaking further, Nwachukwu said the release of Sofiat was based on an order from above, she was freed to rejoin and commemorate Christmas with her family; was however warned never to repeat such an act of indiscipline.

Although her detention had attracted a flurry of condemnation from the civil society groups staging to the fact that the soldier’s right to freedom of association had excessively encroached.

Notwithstanding the authority of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC had revealed that the soldier has been on a date with her fiance right from when she was a civilian before she was finally proposed to when she become a soldier. The fact remains that she is undue for marriage according to Army’s tradition.