The Nigerian military authorities has pardoned a female soldier, Private Hannah Sofiat Akinlabi, who publicly accepted marriage proposal of a male member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kwara state.

A source in the said she was released after the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya pleaded with the military authority in the spirit of Christmas.

Senior Army sources said that Gen. Yahaya, in the last few days, made overtures to the leadership of the Nigerian armed forces, requesting that the soldier be pardoned.

But despite the intervention, the COAS maintained that the erring soldier should be strongly reprimanded against engaging in any kind of act that contravenes the military code of conduct for its officers and men, the sources said.

Lt. Gen. Yahaya’s ‘appeal for mercy’ for the female soldier, may not be unconnected with the fact that the Christmas season presents an opportunity for persons who erred to be given clemency.

It would be recalled that a video of a male corps member proposing to a female soldier at the Yikpata Orientation Camp of the NYSC in Kwara State recently surfaced online and went viral.