Military officers demand sex before they can help us - Army widows decry hardship

Some widows of fallen Nigerian soldiers have accused the military authorities of ignoring their welfare, alleging that some officers make sexual demands before they can help them.

The Coordinator of the Military Widows’ Association in Kebbi State, Asma’u Noma, disclosed this while lamenting that many military widows were without support.

She confirmed that some of them have been subjected to sexual harassment while processing their husbands' benefits, appealing to the Federal Government to intervene to protect them urgently.

Noma said about 30 per cent of the women whose husbands fell in the line of duty to the country had yet to access their life insurance and death benefits.

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“A lot of them are wallowing in poverty and hunger,” Punch reports.

On the sexual harassment allegations, Noma said that when some widows travel to military headquarters to process their entitlements, some officers demand bribes before facilitating the payments.

She disclosed that many widows have become destitute due to their inability to access their husbands’ gratuities, pensions, or welfare support, while also caring for children alone.

She said the poor welfare and the premature deaths of their spouses have led some widows to feel regret for marrying soldiers.

“Some of them regret marrying soldiers because of the ill-treatment they have received after their husbands’ untimely deaths. If the government continues to turn a blind eye to the plight of military widows, no parent will allow their son to join the army,” she said.

For her part, Rashida Hamajoda confirmed that an officer approached her at the military headquarters in Abuja when she went to process her husband's benefits many years ago.

The widow, whose husband was allegedly killed by Birom militants, said the officer demanded a bribe or sexual favours before he could assist her with the documentation and payment processes.

Hamajoda recalled being tossed around before locating the right unit where her late husband's benefits would be paid.

“The man (military officer) asked me in Pigin English: ‘madam you go shake body. I asked him to explain. He said I was not a small girl, I should understand,” she stated, adding that the man asked her to pay “in cash or in kind,” otherwise she would wait till eternity.

“At that moment, I flatly declined his request, and I left in tears. Then I was still breastfeeding one of my babies, so amid hunger and tiredness, I gave up the process and I went back home to inform my husband’s brothers. It was his brother who finished up the process because I vowed not to go back to Abuja again,” Hamajoda added.

Similarly, another widow, Hannatu, recounted her experience many years ago.

The widow, whose husband died from sickness, said she had a horrible experience while processing his benefits, revealing how she begged for transport to Abuja, only to be faced with the demand for a bribe and sexual favour by military officers.

“I was a very attractive woman then, so very few of the officers in charge asked me for money. Many of them, whose names I cannot remember, demanded to sleep with me because of my looks.

“I had to threaten them with a lawsuit before they asked me to come after three months,” she said.

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On her second visit, Hannatu said she took her grown-up son along, with a note from a retired Army general.

“That was when I was attended to, and I was able to conclude the documentation and return home, only to be paid years later.

“I don’t want to talk about it, and I will never wish my son or any young man to join the Nigerian Army. The thought of my experience made me sick,” Hannatu added.