Army Arrests Soldiers Who Allegedly Gang-Raped AAUA Student

The 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigeria Army, Akure, Ondo State has arrested the soldiers who were involved in the alleged rape of a female student of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.

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 allegedly forced to alight from a commercial bus, by one of the soldiers, who is a Lance Corporal.

He allegedly dragged the victim into a cubicle at the back of checkpoint, where she was allegedly assaulted sexually

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

When contacted on Friday, the Brigade Commander of the brigade, Brig. Gen. Zakari Abubakar confirmed the arrest of the soldiers and said the brigade had commenced investigation into the matter.

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

Similarly, the management of the AAUA said the matter was being investigated.

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

Speaking with some journalists today, the head of the Media and Protocol Unit of the AAUA, Mr. Victor Akinpelumi, reiterated that the institution had already taken steps to investigate the incident.

Akinpelumi said, “The victim has not officially reported the matter to the school authorities. But this is a matter that concerns one of our students and we have taken steps. The university has set up a committee to investigate the incident and the committee would submit its report in a few days.

“I believe during the course of the investigation by the committee, the lady would be invited for questioning”