Nigerian soldier arrested for accepting marriage offer while on duty
A female soldier has been arrested in the African country of Nigeria for accepting a marriage offer while on duty.
A spokesman for the Nigerian military confirmed that they had violated military rules by "establishing a romantic relationship in uniform".
A video released last week shows a female army officer kneeling in front of her in the traditional manner, accepting a ring from a man. Meanwhile, the people standing around are happily watching this scene.
The army has been accused by a women's rights group of discriminating against female soldiers.
The group, which advocates for women's empowerment and legal aid, also said that no action had been taken against male soldiers who were "having public romance in full military uniform."
Human rights activist and former Nigerian presidential candidate Omuel Soore has condemned the military's decision, calling it "hateful to women".
The female soldier had accepted the marriage offer of a boy who was part of the NYSC scheme launched by the government for youth training.
Under this one-year-old scheme, military education is imparted to students graduating from universities and other educational institutions.
''The marriage proposal was made during a training program in the western state of Kwara''.
It is not clear when this happened, but a video of the incident surfaced last week. Most of the social media users congratulated the couple and also congratulated the boy on his marriage proposal.
Army spokesman General Clement Novakhokov told the BBC that the female soldier had not only violated the army's rules but also its social media policy.
"This is a violation of good governance and military law. The responsibility of the trainers was to train the youth and not to create romantic relationship with them.
The NYSC has not yet commented.