A dismissed Nigerian soldier, Rotimi Olamilekan, popularly known as Soja Boi, has challenged the Nigerian Army to publish its payroll records after presenting bank transaction alerts he claims reflect the earnings of soldiers.
Olamilekan, a former lance corporal with service number 18NA/77/1009, made the disclosure in a video shared on Tuesday, hours after the Nigerian Army dismissed his earlier allegations about soldiers’ welfare as false and misleading.
In the video, the ex-soldier insisted he was not trying to damage the image of the military but was simply presenting what he described as the reality faced by personnel.
“I am not trying to spoil the Nigerian Army’s image or make people look at them as if they are not good. But I am just speaking the facts and I will be backing them with evidence,” he said.
To support his claims, Olamilekan displayed three bank transaction alerts which he said were payments he received while serving in the Army.
One alert dated February 2, 2026, showed a credit of N112,061.59 with a narration referencing “NIC-ARMY AC,” which he said represented his monthly salary.
Another alert dated February 4, 2026, showed a credit of N20,000 with the narration “RTGS INFLOW FROM CBNi B/ORFL CENTRAL B,” which he described as a “grumbling allowance.”
A third alert dated November 4, 2025, reflected a credit of N45,000 with the narration “SKYSTONE FINANCE COMPANY LTD,” which he said was an operational allowance paid to soldiers deployed to active combat zones such as Maiduguri.
According to him, the operational allowance is not a regular entitlement and is paid only when soldiers are actively deployed.
“If you are not in operation, they don’t pay you that one. If you go on operation, they will pay you,” he said.
He also said soldiers receive a security allowance of about N6,000 and explained that those stationed in barracks typically receive only their salary and the N20,000 allowance.
“If you are doing barracks duty, you are only entitled to your salary and that N20,000,” he said.
Olamilekan also repeated his earlier claim that soldiers sometimes purchase their own protective equipment, including helmets and fragmentation jackets.
“Helmet, you go buy. Fragmentation jacket, you go buy them,” he alleged.
He urged Nigerians with relatives in the military to verify the claims directly.
“I know so many people who would want to say these things but don’t know how to. Call your brother, call your sister, and ask them if I am lying,” he said.
The former soldier also challenged the Nigerian Army to release its payroll details to prove him wrong.
“If they say I am lying, they should bring out their payroll. How much are they paying soldiers?” he said.
Business Hallmark could not independently verify the authenticity of the receipts displayed in the video.
While the first transaction alert contained a reference to “NIC-ARMY AC,” the other alerts did not clearly identify the Nigerian Army or any government agency as the paying body. The alerts also appeared to be standard bank notifications without official payroll documentation.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Nigerian Army dismissed Olamilekan’s allegations.
In a statement issued by its Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Lt. Col. Appolonia Anaele, the Army described the claims as baseless and insisted that personnel are provided with uniforms, kits, weapons and protective gear through established logistics systems.
The Army maintained that no soldier is deployed to operational theatres without adequate protective equipment, although it acknowledged that some personnel may choose to supplement issued kits with personal purchases.
On remuneration, the Army said its personnel receive consolidated monthly salaries in addition to uniform allowances, operational allowances and other mission-specific benefits paid directly into their bank accounts.
Olamilekan first gained national attention in February 2026 when a video in which he urged governors, senators and ministers to send their children to serve in the Nigerian Army went viral.
He was later arrested, reportedly spent his birthday in detention and was subsequently dismissed from the military.
The Army said his dismissal followed repeated acts of indiscipline, including breaches of the Armed Forces’ social media policy and unauthorised media appearances, and was not related to the content of his viral videos.
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