I fought three wars, yet Army denied me benefits – Ex-female Major

Roseline Eyetan, a female soldier who retired as a Major and was a beneficiary of the Mamamoni Empowerment Programme, speaks with AJIBADE OMAPE on her experience in the military and life after retirement

What is your background?

My name is Eyetan Abosede Roseline and I am from Edo State. My parents are also from Edo State, and I got married to a Delta man from Itsekiri. I am 62 years old;I went to school for the little while that I could afford because I did not grow up to know my parents. I was told that my father died when I was at the age of three years old and my mother died when I was about nine years old, so I lived with my mother’s sister, who took care of me. I am the only daughter of my mother out of four children. My story is long and if I start to talk today, I will be in tears. I went through a lot during my youthful age and by the time I got married I went through a whole lot of stress because of my husband’s accident while on a peacekeeping mission in Warri. We managed the situation with a prosthetic leg for about three to four years.

How long have you retired from the military?

I can’t remember because the whole journey was troublesome; it should be about five to six years now that I have retired from the military. I retired as a Major in the Nigerian Army. It was immediately when I was commissioned as a Major that my husband had the accident from the mission to quell the crisis in Warri that he was a part of.

How many children and grandchildren do you have?

I am a happy mother of four wonderful children. I have three girls and a boy to the glory of God and my children have also started getting married and giving birth to my grandchildren. I am also a lucky grandmother of three lovely grandchildren. I have two female grandchildren and one male grandchild.

How did you meet your husband?

I met my husband when I was undergoing training; he saw me and asked for my name and details, and he then asked if I would like to get married to him; I couldn’t say no because I was in uniform so I said yes for him to let me go. When I was later posted to the Defence Ministry in Lagos, I met him there again but when he asked if I remembered him, I denied it even though I did. He followed my cousin to the house in Surulere one day, and on seeing me, he remembered I was the one he saw from the third floor in the Defence Ministry and that was how he said to me that he liked me and would want to get married to me; I asked him to tell my aunt who was my foster mum at that time even though I already had someone in mind to get married to. My aunt went on and made some spiritual findings and advised me to get married to him.

Two months after I started the Mamamoni empowerment programme, on October 12, 2021, when we came back from church around 8pm, I asked that we do our devotion because I was about to sleep, and he stayed back to watch the 10pm news, after then he came into the room and began to call Stella, one of the girls who stayed with us at home, I responded to him then he asked us to gist so we began conversing till it was past midnight. I asked him to join me and wish our first daughter a happy birthday; we prayed for her and wished her a happy birthday, after which he said he wanted to sleep so I put off the light and went to sleep, but not up to 10 minutes, my spirit told me to put on the light and immediately I did, I noticed my husband holding onto his chest and writhing in pain.

I immediately sprinkled anointing water on him, and he then coughed and came around; he asked to use the restroom so I managed to wear his prosthetic leg for him and assisted him to the restroom; when he was done, he prayed for me and that was the moment I noticed his unusual behaviour. I then picked up my phone to call my first daughter, but before she got to the house he had already passed away. It was very painful because he was a very caring husband and I grew up with him. He gave up at exactly 12.35am on October 13, 2021. I went back to Mamamoni after the funeral and mourning processes.

What year did you join the military?

I honestly cannot remember but I know that I joined at a very young age. I think I spent over 20 years in the Army. It is my husband who could remember most of those details because he was always keeping records.

Was your husband also in the military?

Yes, my husband was also in the military; he was a Lieutenant Commander in the Nigerian Navy. He led a team of naval soldiers on a peacekeeping mission to Warri, he then got injured in battle and lost a leg, and he retired in 2014.

Now that you have retired from the military, how is life?

I am just managing life right now; it is not easy; right now, the country is very tough and it is only by the grace of God that we are alive; bad leaders are affecting the country a lot; if we have good leaders, we will not have too many people saying they want to travel abroad. So let me just say I am managing; I am only praying for sound health.

How many years did you serve in the military?

By my calculations, I must have spent a total of 26 years in the Army before I resigned when my husband had an accident in the peacekeeping mission he went for

During your time in the military, were you ever in the field of operation?

Yes, I was on the field and I fought in some wars. I took part in two to three wars. The very first war I fought was the Liberian war, and out of 350 battalions, I was the only woman there and I survived it. I think it was in 1995, but I’m not sure because it has been a long time and my husband used to keep records for me; then the second war I fought was the first Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State, we were about 11 ladies who were with the men, and we had 285 in the battalion and out of the 285, only 96 survived it and among the 96 who survived, I am among. The last one was in Jos, Plateau State; although I was hit by a bullet in my hand during the battle, after the bullet hit me, it went through and killed two persons behind me; I believe I am very lucky to have escaped. I know God loves me so much and he has a big package for me and I know he will do something. So I have fought three wars for Nigeria.

How did you hear about the Mamamoni Empowerment Foundation?

I was taking my grandson to school when I saw something about it; I went ahead to drop him off at school and went back to read more about it; I then discovered that it was free so I told my husband about it and I decided to enrol for it. I spoke to my husband about it and he supported me wholeheartedly. I could not pass a thread through a needle before, but ever since I started the Mamamoni programme, I have been able to sew dresses for customers.

What was your dream job before you joined the military?

I did not think of doing anything else; I just wanted to join the Army although I have always wanted to own a daycare centre so that I can take care of little children because it is what I like.

Why did you choose to join the military?

I just liked the military; I ran to join the military, and the day we finished training, I ran away and people started looking for me, but the day I came home people were shocked to the point where they started pouring sand on my body thinking that I was a ghost. They were surprised that I joined the military, but I told them that I just liked it.

Did your parents support your decision to join the military?

My parents were not alive to decide for me. My aunt was not even aware because I did not seek her permission before I ran to join the army.

While in the military, did you sustain any injuries from attacks or operations?

I was shot in Jos; the bullet hit my hand, but it killed two people who were behind me on the battlefield; it was really scary and I know that God was the one who saved me that time.

Do you have any regrets about joining the military?

Yes, I am not happy; I am not happy that I worked very well for them and served the Nigerian Army and was not compensated because my file was not signed. I fought at least three wars but nothing was given to me. I was told to return to service, but I cannot because I am already aged strength is not on my side any longer, and again, I don’t have the money to bribe them. The last time I went there, I was asked to bring N500,000 to get my file signed. We even pleaded and negotiated for N300,000 and they agreed, but I realised that the staff members who operate in that department are frequently changed and I didn’t want to risk losing that amount of money, so I decided not to pay any money. My children advised that I should leave them and hope for something good to happen. And besides, most of the people in the top offices now are from a particular part of the country and it is a real problem if you do not understand their language.

During your time in service, did you experience any form of sexual harassment by your male colleagues and senior officers?

Yes, most of those senior officers are very promiscuous, and if they approach you and you refuse to have a sexual relationship with them, they will make sure you are taken away from any department like the filing department and salary department where you will be privileged to make extra income and post you to a department where you will only be dependent on your salary and they will make your time there a very terrible one. So, who will hear that a married woman like me with children is into such a dirty act? It would be a shame; one of my senior officers, who was a colonel, frustrated me and he is one of the reasons why I even resigned. I told my husband and my husband warned him against posting me without valid reasons and my husband always strove to post me back whenever my superiors posted me to a difficult place.

Would you want any of your children or grandchildren to join the military?

I will not mind if any of them want to join the military. As for my senior daughter, she said she would like to join the Navy but wants to join abroad; even my only son wants to join the army as well but he also wants to join either the US or Canadian army. I do not advise anybody to join the Nigerian Army because it is peanuts they will get; if you go through the Nigerian Defence Academy, your salary will be around N170,000; if you join with just a secondary school certificate, your salary will be N48,000; it’s just the uniform that commands respect, the take-home salary is nothing to write home about. It is not encouraging at all.

Now that you have learned fashion design, are you going to build a fashion brand?

Yes, I want to build a place; I would love to buy more sewing machines so that I can teach as many people as I can because I was equally trained. So, it is something I am willing to do and I know it is just a matter of time; things will work out very soon.

What other skills or trades are you looking forward to learning?

During the Christmas period when my children gave me money, I bought materials and sewed clothes that I sold to people with little gain. If there are resources to do business, I will look for other things to do. I enjoy sewing clothes for people to sell. I sewed three pieces of school uniform for a woman’s kids and she was impressed with my delivery time and also with the outcome of the work, and she willingly paid me a total of N15,000 and I was surprised. So, I will do other things when I get the capital.