6th March, 2024
A solider serving in 152 task force Battalion, Banki, has described the allegations levied the Commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel MZ Dikko, as false and a gross attempt to defame the military officer.
The soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity noted that Diko who has been the Commanding Officer of Battalion for more than a year now treats every soldier under his command with fairness and family.
He said it is quite unfortunate that some people decided to gang up to cook up defamatory article to tarnish the reputation of Dikko.
While reacting to the specific allegations against Dikko, the source said the commanding officer incurred anger of some soldiers and officers because of his bid to maintain discipline by stopping influx of women into the camp.
“The commanding officer said Christians civilians should should only be allowed to enter the camp to worship on Sundays while Muslims are only allowed on Fridays.
“This was after it was discovered that some ladies do pretend they were coming for midweek service in the camp, but their real intention was to come inside to meet their soldier and officer boyfriends,
“But the Commander stopped this by the order. This was one of the issues that triggered the faceless sponsors of this libellous article. We are here to fight war for God sake, the libellous article is sponsored by personnel who want to be living like they’re in their respective homes while on operational ground forgetting that they can be distracted by women, ” the source said.
The source also dismissed claim of alleged Islmisation against Dikko. He noted that this cannot be true because the Commanding Officer is surrounded by Christians.
“Let me start from his administrative staff – the chief clerk,the adjutant are both Christians. The former adjutant under him is also a Christian, his personal assistant is Christian and of Igbo decent, his driver is a Christian. Some of the kitchen staffs are also Christians. The commanding officer eat from the kitchen as well, if he dislike Christians, he won’t bother eating food prepared by them. These have shown that all these allegations are from mischievous makers who are trying to sabotage his efforts.
“I’m a Christian as well and my conscience will always judge me if I overlook things like this.
“All the soldiers are always happy seeing him. In fact, whenever he is coming, we dey always shout war war war and in response, he always welcome us with kind gestures. Because he’s a great leader who lead operations whenever we’re going for any operation.
“So, the claim that Lt. Col. Dikko has exhibited religious prejudice by expelling Catholics from their church and converting the church hall into a conference venue is a lie from people who wanted to tarnish his good work.
“The place allegedly called church was formerly a classroom used for an Islamic school. We should also note that the present facility being used by 152 task force battalion was formerly an Islamic school. It was never a barrack.
“So, virtually all the shelters there are temporary because they were formerly classrooms. In most of the classrooms you can see blackboard used by the students before Nigerian Army took over the place.
“The Catholics were not expelled, they were only relocated and the commanding officer made a provision for a new place they’re currently using.
“The Commander tried by renovating a new classroom for us to use as a church. The question I want to ask those people is this – this thing happened in January, why wait until end of February before going write lies?
“On 13th of February 2024, there was a bilateral meeting with people from far north region of Cameroon, The state government sent a team of engineers and some government officials to look for a suitable location for the meeting prior to the meeting day, the CO choose the officers mess but the engineers said it was too small, hence they look for another classroom that was used as store and the other part was used as Catholic church.
“I was there when the file was taken to the Adjutant in the officer mess that morning. The Commanding officer said adjutant should call the Pastor. All our pastors were called that day, the people from Borno State government came.
“The walls of the store and defunct Catholic church was demolished in order to acquire more space. This was what the engineers tell our commander that day.
“It was the engineers and some government officials, not the Commanding Officer who choose the location to be used. The unit Adjutant, Lieutenant D. Simon addressed all the Cristian soldiers, Mopol, and even the civilian NGOs using the two churches. That’s what happened.
“It is not new in the Nigerian Army that discipline is our bedrock, there are ways to channel ones grievances in the Army. If anyone feel cheated or feels his right is violated, there are ways to go about it.
“The Commanding Officer has never threatened anyone with dismissal.
“However, if anyone violated the Nigerian Army standards, the person will be charged and made to go through orderly room procedures. These are what the Commanding Officer told us when we raised the issue of some personnel that rented apartment and keep their girlfriends inside town.
“He sent for the intelligence officer to identify those that rented apartment inside town. This was during his last Dubar in February with us. Those affected have been angry thatthe Commanding Officer stopped them from sleeping outside with their girlfriends, though and some of them are even married.
“Also, the commanding officer did not in any way skewed the selection process for Nigerian Army courses to favour Muslims as alleged. In fact it was a Christian who headed the selection board. 20 Muslims and 24 Christians were selected for promotion while six Muslims and seven christians are presently attending different courses.
“I work in the orderly room, we have the records. We have Christian and Muslim that went for courses. Thank God I work in the office where I have access to this information. We need to verify information and stop beating around the bush. We have serious issues to tackle here, and we’re talking about religion and ethnicity. When the Boko Haram attacked us sometimes ago it was a Muslim brother that saved me. Personally I don’t like this kind of talk, but I can’t overlook this particular one. It is defamatory and it may reduce work efficiency if this is not curbed.
“Lt. Col. Dikko despite the hard economy provide food for the troops.
“Most of the times, he supervises the kitchen and make sure everyone gets food. The commanding officer is honestly trying all I just see is people that want to sabotage his effort.
On the issue of lack of operational vehicles, everybody here in this camp know that he brings mechanic from Maiduguri and keep him permanently here and he is paying him to ensure that our vehicles are roadworthy. “How can this operation end when we that are to fight Boko Haram are lying against our Commander?” he queried.
