Nigerian Soldiers Arrested For Gang-Raping Of AAUA Female Student At Checkpoint In Ondo

The 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Akure, Ondo State has arrested soldiers who were allegedly involved in the rape of a female student of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA).

The victim, who is said to be a 300-level student of the Department of Religious and African Studies of the university, was allegedly gang-raped by some soldiers at a checkpoint in Ikare Akoko, the headquarters of the Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State on Wednesday.

The student was said to have been forced to alight from a commercial bus by one of the soldiers, a Lance Corporal. He allegedly dragged the victim into their relaxing room at the checkpoint, where she was allegedly raped.

The victim was said to be returning from the campus on the day the incident happened.

When contacted on Friday, the Brigade Commander, 32 Artillery Brigade, Brig. Gen. Zakari Abubakar, confirmed the arrest and said investigation had commenced into the matter. He said:

“It is true that they (the soldiers) have been arrested . We have commenced our investigation.”

Also, the management of the AAUA said investigation had begun into the matter.

The university, however, noted that the victim had not officially reported the matter to the management for proper action.

Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, the Head, Media and Protocol Unit of the AAUA, Mr Victor Akinpelumi, stated that the institution had already taken steps to investigate the incident. Akinpelumi said:

“The victim has not officially reported the matter to the management of the university. In spite of that, because it is a matter that concerns one of our students, the university has set up a committee to investigate the incident and the committee would submit its report in a few days.

“believe during the course of the investigation by the committee, the lady would be invited for questioning while many other people believed to know one thing or the other about the incident, would be interrogated by the committee. So, the report of the committee would reveal everything that happened.”