A group known as Concerned Nigerian Women (CNW) has given President Muhammadu Buhari a 14-day ultimatum to sack the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Farouk Yahaya and the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, over what it called the ‘harassment’ of a female soldier who accepted a proposal from a male NYSC member.
The women rights group, led by Bimbola Olarenwaju, slammed Gen. Ibrahim for what it termed “an apparent show of disdain for women” which the group said, led to the irrational manner with which the DG of NYSC talked down on women in the press conference he addressed regarding the issue.
The group further called the attention of Nigerians to the fact that the provision that said a female soldier must serve for three years before marriage, the basis upon which the female soldier is being detained, has not been breached as the soldier merely accepted a proposal for marriage which can take even up to 10 years before being formally contracted.
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The group also wondered if the same provision applied to male officers, asserting that the group will go to any length to ensure that the female soldier is not being harassed and discriminated against because of her gender as such will be a glaring violation of her rights guaranteed in Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended, which frowns at the discrimination of any Nigerian on the grounds of gender.
Following the apparent breaches of the female officer’s fundamental rights, the group threatened to lead a powerful protest to the Presidential Villa, United States Embassy, British High Commission, Ministry of Women Affairs, Human Rights Commission office and other key institutions if the duo is not removed for their hatred towards women within the next seven days.