A female Nigerian soldier has been dismissed from service after confessing to stealing gold jewelry worth a staggering N35 million from an army general's wife she was assigned to in Kaduna.
The dismissed soldier has been identified as Lance Corporal Jonah Comfort, with the service number 15NA/74/4422F. According to sources within the army, Comfort committed the offense earlier this month.
It is reported that the female soldier had been closely monitoring the senior officer's wife and subsequently entered her room to steal the valuable jewelry. Comfort then sold the stolen goods to a jeweler in Kaduna for a mere N5 million.
The army authorities, however, have been hesitant to make the incident public, fearing that it might lead to questions about how the general's wife, a full-time housewife, had amassed such a vast collection of jewelry worth millions of Naira.
"The army authorities have been careful over the issue because the general's wife is a full housewife, so how come she has jewelry worth millions of Naira? The jewelry stolen by the soldier which was valued at N35 million was just part of her collections," one of the sources revealed.
The jeweler who purchased the stolen goods has also been apprehended by the military police.
This incident comes on the heels of the recent dismissal of three soldiers who were arrested by the police for armed robbery and kidnapping. The suspects, identified as LCPL Abdul Musa, CPL Innocent Okwoli, and CPL West Isaac, were charged, tried, and found guilty in line with the provisions of the Armed Forces Act.
The dismissed female soldier, Comfort, has been placed in a cell, and the army authorities have taken swift action to address this breach of trust and discipline within their ranks.