3rd March, 2024
Soldiers of the 152 Task Force Battalion Banki of the Nigerian Army (NA) have written a ‘Save our soul’ letter to President Bola Tinubu over what they regard as the destruction of the Army’s ethics and principles at the unit.
In the open letter forwarded to P.M.NEWS on Friday, the concerned soldiers make allegations of divisive rule and declining welfare package implementation among others against their commanding officer, Lt Col M. Z Dikko and call on the President to wade in.
Here below is the letter:
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU BY SOLDIERS OF 152 TASK FORCE BATTALION BANKI
We, the soldiers of 152 Task Force Battalion are constrained to write to you sir through this medium to draw your attention to the divisive actions of our commanding officer Lt Col MZ Dikko, which if not checked can result in chaos and anarchy in the unit. The Nigerian Army is reputed for tolerance and neutrality on matters of religion and ethnicity. Lt Col MZ Dikko has jettisoned this age old tradition and he is on a quest to reverse this.
He recently evicted Catholics from their church and converted the building to a conference centre. Catholics take the alters in their church very seriously, and if an altar is to be moved, the new one must be consecrated. When observations were raised by the soldiers, he threatened to charge and dismiss them from the Army. While this was going on, he went about telling soldiers of Muslim faith that Christians will suffer under his command. These same Muslim soldiers were outraged at his utterances and bigotry as this goes against the Nigeria Army doctrine of religious tolerance. They see it as an attempt to pit them against their fellow colleagues of Christian faith.
The commanding officer also deliberately skews the selection process for Nigerian Army courses to favour those of the Muslim faith and discards merit. When it comes to promotions, he deliberately forwards the names of Muslim soldiers and goes ahead to tell them he is fighting for Muslims. However, the soldiers of Christian and Muslim faiths have always rejected his agenda to create division amongst them.
Another critical issue of concern to us is welfare and feeding. The Nigerian Army devotes a lot of resources towards ensuring we are well fed. However, Lt Col MZ Dikko frustrates these efforts by refusing to feed us well. The standard of feeding is abysmal even as the amount for feeding each soldier has been increased to N1500 per day. There is a Location in Kumshe where soldiers are deployed without operational vehicles and are made to walk ten kilometres to get food supplies. It will be difficult to repel attacks without vehicles to mount our support weapons.
We have raised these concerns with the military hierarchy numerous times but nothing has been done to address the challenges. We therefore appeal to you, our Commander-in-Chief, to address these issues that have dampened our morale.
Thank you, sir.