A dismissed Nigerian soldier, Rotimi Olamilekan, popularly known as Soja Boi, has challenged the Nigerian Army to publish its payroll.
Olamilekan released bank transaction alerts he said showed that rank-and-file personnel earn modest wages and often buy their own protective equipment.
The former lance corporal with service number 18NA/77/1009, made the claims in a video posted on Tuesday, hours after the Army dismissed his earlier allegations as false and misleading.
“I am not trying to spoil the Nigerian Army’s image I am just speaking the facts, and I will be backing them with evidence,” he said.
In the footage, Olamilekan displayed three bank alerts he said were payments received during his service.
One alert, dated 2 February 2026, showed a credit of N112,061.59 with a narration referencing “NIC-ARMY AC,” which he identified as his monthly salary.
A second alert, dated 4 February 2026, showed a N20,000 credit, which he described as a “grumbling allowance.”
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A third alert, dated 4 November 2025, showed a N45,000 credit, which he said was an operational allowance paid to troops deployed to active theatres such as Maiduguri.
He added that a N6,000 security allowance existed, but stressed that operational allowances were not paid routinely.
“If you are not in operation, they don’t pay you that one,” he said.
According to him, soldiers on barracks duty were only entitled to their salary and the N20,000 allowance, while those deployed to operations received additional payments on a temporary basis.
Olamilekan also repeated his claim that soldiers purchase key protective gear themselves, including helmets and fragmentation jackets, and urged Nigerians with relatives in the military to verify his assertions independently.
“If they say I am lying, they should bring out their payroll. How much are they paying soldiers?,” he said.
While one of the alerts referenced “NIC-ARMY AC,” the other transactions did not explicitly identify the Nigerian Army or any government agency as the paying institution.
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The documents were standard bank alerts and did not carry official payroll references or letterheads.
Recall that the Army, in a statement on Tuesday by its Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Appolonia Anaele, debunked Olamilekan’s claims as baseless.
It said uniforms, kits, arms and protective equipment were issued to personnel through established logistics systems, and that no soldier was deployed to an operational theatre without adequate protection.
The statement added that while some personnel might choose to supplement issued kits, such actions were voluntary.
On pay, the Army said personnel received consolidated monthly salaries alongside uniform allowances, operational allowances and other mission-specific entitlements paid directly into their bank accounts.
Olamilekan first gained national attention in February 2026 after a viral video in which he urged governors, senators and ministers to send their children to serve in the Army.
He was later arrested, spent his birthday in detention and was subsequently dismissed.
The Army had said his dismissal followed repeated acts of indiscipline, including breaches of the Armed Forces Social Media Policy and unauthorised media appearances, and was not linked to the content of his videos.