Female Soldier Beaten, Sent To Psychiatric Hospital After Claiming She Was Harassed By Senior Colleagues

A female soldier attached to Ilese Sappers Barracks, Division 2, Ogun State, Lance Corporal Philomena Nnamoko, was allegedly beaten and sent to Yaba Psychiatric Hospital.

Naija News understands that Nnamoko had, during an interview with the Punch, alleged that she was bullied and harassed for refusing to give in to the sexual advances of her senior colleagues.

In the interview with the aforementioned publication, Nnamoko had disclosed how her superiors made sexual advances at her.

She claimed that she had written several letters seeking a voluntary discharge from the army, but was not granted.

Sharing more details on the situation, the only child of the soldier, Emmanuel Brown revealed to the publication that his mother was beaten and bundled to a psychiatric hospital.

He said that he got the information that his mother was assaulted on Sunday night.

According to him, “I got the information around 10 pm, and I rushed to the Medical Reception Station inside the barracks. When I got there, she was unconscious. When she regained consciousness, she explained how they beat her up. I feel horrible because of the stress, and I was saddened to see bruises on her body. While there, she even vomited, and I had to clean her up and cover her with clothes, because she was feeling cold.

“On getting to the MRS this (Monday) morning, I discovered that they had taken her to the Yaba Psychiatric Hospital. I was confused as to what happened to her to warrant her being taken to a psychiatric hospital.”

Corroborating Brown’s account, Philomena’s lawyer, Kayode Oshiyemi, also said that his client was assaulted by a senior officer on Monday, alleging that they lied that she had a mental disorder to cover up for the assault.

He said, “She was assaulted yesterday (Sunday) by a captain in the barracks. They lied that she had mental issues to cover up the assault. They called her to the office this morning (Monday) and assaulted her. As we speak, she has been taken to Yaba under the guise that she has mental illness.

“But, she is very stable, and there is nothing wrong with her. She has been my client for over one year, so I know there is nothing wrong with her mentally. She consistently gave details of how she was harassed, assaulted and nearly raped. She is mentally stable, as she did not show any trace of mental illness. She brought documents to my office and answered all my questions very well. Whenever she was harassed, she called to inform me of the developments.

“They kept asking her to write (discharge) letters which were not submitted to the appropriate quarters.”