A former Nigerian Army corporal has levelled explosive allegations of sexual coercion, brutality and institutional persecution against senior military figures, claiming she was hounded out of service for refusing to submit to a general’s advances.
Matilda Anighoro, once a nurse with the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, has broken her silence in a searing account of what she describes as months of intimidation, unlawful detention and degrading treatment inside one of the country’s key military hospitals.
At the heart of her claims is an accusation that a senior officer, General S.O. Okoigi, subjected her to relentless pressure for a sexual relationship — and orchestrated a campaign of punishment when she refused.
“I was sexually harassed and ill-treated, that is why I resigned,” she said. “Before my resignation was approved after 10 months, I went through hell, because my Corps Commander, General Okoigi, tried to force me to accept to sleep with him.”
Her allegations, laid out in a petition to the Special Investigation Bureau, paint a disturbing portrait of life inside the ranks — one in which discipline, she claims, was weaponised to enforce silence and submission.
Anighoro traces the beginning of her ordeal to her posting at the 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Yaba, Lagos — a major military medical facility where she had hoped to build her career as a nurse.
Instead, she claims, she became the target of sustained harassment after rejecting repeated advances.
“General Okoigi requested to have a sexual relationship with me, which I turned down several times,” she said. “This made him use other officers to try to pressure me until it began to turn to punishment and a witch-hunt.”
According to her account, what began as verbal pressure soon escalated into coordinated intimidation involving multiple officers.
She alleges that threats were made about punitive postings — including deployment to Nigeria’s volatile North-East — and that attempts to seek redress were deliberately blocked.
Even after formally submitting her resignation in November 2023, she claims the pressure intensified rather than eased.
One of the most striking episodes in her testimony centres on a meeting with the Corps Commander himself — an encounter she says quickly descended into humiliation.
“On getting to the Corps Commander’s office, I was treated like an accused and a slave,” she said.
“I was locked in the guardroom, and multiple drug tests were conducted on me. My hair was loosened, and I was made to clear the grass behind the Corps Commander’s office.
“The Corps Commander was shouting at me to tell him who helped me write for the Corps Commander interview, that I was not brilliant enough to write this, and that the Captain who helped Private Ruth Ogunleye to write her letters had been caught.”
What should have been a formal audience, she suggests, became instead an ordeal designed to degrade and intimidate.
Anighoro alleges that the situation soon deteriorated further, culminating in her detention under harsh conditions.
“I was marched to the guardroom for 14 days… Inside… I was locked in a single man room and instructed not to be allowed out.”
Her account of that confinement is stark and deeply troubling.
“I was marched to the guardroom for 14 days’ imprisonment with hard labour, but I did 16 days instead, along with 14 days of extra duty. Inside the guardroom, I was locked in a single-man room and instructed not to be allowed out.
“I menstruated on myself inside the guardroom. For almost 10 days, I was not allowed to come out, until they needed to clean the newly renovated gynecology and maternity ward. I was marched every morning for five days to clean the ward.”
She further alleges that even during labour duties, the pressure to submit did not relent.
“When taking me for labour work, General Okoigi on his convoy vehicle stopped and walked back to us in front of Napex, Opposite Admin block and told the RP Private Omeje to go call CO Admin in his office.
“Private Omeje left and General Okoigi told me that until I accept his sexual offer, he will continue to make me suffer. That he instructed my Commander and CO Admin to seize my rank, that he is going to make my life a living hell, except I accept to sleep with him.
“That immediately I accepted, he was going to return my rank back to me, because he instructed them not to forward it to Army Headquarters, and all the suffering and witch-hunt will stop.”
Beyond detention, Anighoro claims she suffered physical abuse at the hands of other personnel.
“He pushed and threw me to the wall,” she said of a Regimental Sergeant Major, adding that she was later kicked during labour work.
Even after completing her punishment, she says, the reprisals continued.
“I was placed on continuous morning shift,” she said, linking the decision to her refusal to comply with the alleged sexual demands.
Although her voluntary discharge was eventually approved in September 2024, Anighoro claims efforts were made to further damage her record.
“When my voluntary discharge came out, they still refused to return my rank,” she said.
She alleges that officials attempted to formally downgrade her from Corporal to Private through manipulated documentation.
“Maj. Monday Motel started calling me from DPM Abuja that a second brief was just sent to him from my Corps Commander Gen Okoigi, which stated I was a bad soldier and instructed him to change my discharge certificate to Private soldier.
“That he has already done that, and he is waiting to deal with me when I come to Abuja for my documentation.”
Fearing further intimidation, she says she abandoned the process altogether.
Now out of the military, Anighoro says she has been left without the benefits she is owed.
“Until now, I have not been paid my gratuity, packing allowance, three months’ combined pension start and monthly pension,” she said.
She also alleges serious procedural breaches in how disciplinary actions were handled.
“I was not given a record of proceedings before the order,” she said, adding that documents relating to her alleged demotion contained no stated offence.
General Okoigi has categorically denied all allegations of sexual misconduct, instead portraying Anighoro as an indisciplined soldier whose behaviour warranted sanction.
“When I first got to know about this incident was when one of my officers, who was her commander at the 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital between 2023 and November 2025, sent me a video,” he said.
“Funnily enough, if this lady passes me on the road, I won’t know her. The only time I saw this lady was when she was serving in the 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, and the commander said that there was a soldier who was indiscipline and so on.”
He insists his interaction with her was minimal and professional.
“The day she came to my office, I asked the Director of Nursing to march her in along with the Regimental Sargent Major of the unit (RSM). That was the first time in my life I saw that soldier (Anighoro),” he said.
According to him, concerns about her behaviour — including suspected drug use — prompted further action.
“But she was behaving somehow, and I asked her, ‘Are you on drugs?’ This was because she was acting somehow. I asked her to leave my office, and she left.”
“I will talk to my soldier, asking questions, she will not respond. She did not behave like a soldier, and that was why I was concerned.”
He added: “The interview ended, and I called her commander and said, ‘This your soldier is not normal, test her for drugs.’”
General Okoigi further alleged that Anighoro neglected her duties as a nurse.
“She would be on duty, abandon patients in an emergency and go to the market where she was selling. She would leave the hospital,” he said.
“I said her commander should go ahead and do whatever he wanted to do. I was surprised that they didn’t even dismiss her. She is just being manipulative.”
He also confirmed that she had been detained at some point, but said it was linked to disciplinary issues.
“She was in a guardroom at a point in time when they said that she abandoned her job, left patients in emergency to go and sell her wearing her shop.”
The general revealed he has taken steps to formally challenge her claims.
“When it was obvious that she was avoiding investigation because she didn’t have a case, the Military Police advised that I press charges against her in the court of law,” he said.
He also stated that her retirement process has been halted.
“Based on that, the Military Police have been looking for her. We had to write to the Military Police, and because of this, her retirement is now put on hold.”
Anighoro disputes these claims, insisting she has cooperated with investigators.
“I went on February 10 and wrote my statement on the February 11. Which date was the meeting supposed to hold?” she said.
“I was only invited to come to Abuja to write my statement. And I told them I didn’t have transportation fee. So when I was able to get transportation, I went there.”
Now a civilian, Anighoro says she is speaking out not only for herself but for others who may be suffering in silence.
“Please help me, so I can be allowed to document as a corporal and receive my entitlement,” she pleaded.
Her case raises troubling questions about oversight, accountability and the treatment of women within the armed forces.
“I only wanted to serve and do my duty,” she said. “But my life was made a living hell.”
The allegations remain unproven, and the Nigerian Army has yet to publicly detail any findings from its internal processes. But the starkly conflicting accounts — one alleging systemic abuse, the other indiscipline and fabrication — have set the stage for what could become a defining test of transparency within the military.