The Nigeria Army has disclosed on Saturday that it will discipline military officers who barricaded Maiduguri Airport over suspicions that they were going to be deployed to the battle front against Boko Haram.
Maj. General A.M. Dikko, the Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, stated that the officers will be punished in line with the rule and regulations of the Nigeria Military.
Naija News recalls that two weeks ago, Military officers, who were apprehensive about claims that they might be redeployed to confront Boko Haram after they overstayed their deployment period, disrupted the operation of the Maiduguri Airport for two hours 
“We don’t punish in the military. We discipline. Discipline is the bedrock of the job. If there’s no discipline, then we can’t have an army. So if a soldier errs, he must be corrected”, Dikko said at an event in Maiduguri today.
While responding to the incident, the Deputy Director Public Relations, Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, stated that the protest by the few unscrupulous troops happened while the command was conducting a redeployment of soldiers at the Maiduguri Airport, following a directive to review troops’ deployment in Maiduguri metropolis, to reinvigorate the security architecture of the city.
“The redeployment became expedient after a recent assessment of the security situation by the Theatre Command. Regrettably however, a few of the troops who had misunderstood the development and erroneously assumed it was going to negatively affect their rotation from the theatre of operation became agitated and reacted by firing into the air.” he said.
Maj. General Dikko, while speaking, stated that disciplinary actions would be taking against culpable officers.
He condemned the act of mutiny under any guise, maintaining that the law and ethics which the Nigerian Army is guided by would take its full course on errant soldiers.
Dikko reminded them of their oath of recruitment pointing out that they voluntarily joined the military and as such must be disciplined.
“You have decided to put your life on the line for the territorial integrity of Nigeria. So it is very important that we are reminded of our roles and responsibilities to the nation and our responsibility to the society, most importantly our responsibility to ourselves because we are not a conscript army. We are a regular military.
“Those who have volunteered to serve and that is the only time you will volunteer, subsequently having offered your service, it is the responsibility of the services to deploy you where they find you appropriate.
“So it is important that we continue to retain our professional comportment so that we can serve diligently. It’s important that we uphold the values and ethics of the system that we belong to,”
“It is also important that we understand it is a service to our fatherland. It is not a service to ourselves.
“The bedrock of your service as a soldier is discipline. A soldier must remain disciplined at all times. A soldier must obey instructions” said Dikko.
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