By Madu Onuorah
Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike (rtd), Nigeria’s first Air Force 4-star General, former Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) and ex-Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is 75 today, November 18, 2025. Renowned as a reformer and military chief who conquered the hearts of his troops, Air Chief Marshal Dike remains a foremost military leader who still evokes positive emotions among all ranks of the Nigerian Armed Forces (15 years after retirement).
A thoroughbred professional, Dike joined the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) with his entry into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna on January 22, 1973. He served a total of 37 years, seven months and 16 days.
On September 14, 2010 when he handed over to his successor, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin at Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Abuja, officers and men despite their well-known stoic demeanor and orientation could not stop their feelings from bubbling to the surface. Then Chief of Training and Operations (Defence), Maj Gen Ishaku Pennap (rtd) told Dike: “You have, with single mind and sense of purpose, reversed the perception of people of Defence Headquarters as an old People’s Home. And nothing is better than leaving service when the ovation is highest.”
At the Quarter Guard ceremony, soldiers clustered around him and his vehicle, some crying, others with teary eyes, making it difficult for him get to access and depart. They wanted a handshake, a photograph, and some, even uncharacteristically, a hug. Finally, he successfully entered and the vehicle drove off, amid cheers and clapping.
Later, at the Pulling Out Parade ceremony at Mogadishu Cantonment Abuja, the same atmosphere pervaded as soldiers, joined by their spouses and children, trooped out to see the man many of them claim has changed the face of the Nigerian military.
In his farewell speech, Dike told them: “I consider myself one of the luckiest individuals to have served in the Nigerian Armed Forces, having served without blemish. And it has been a wonderful experience.”
Before his appointment, DHQ was the place of deployment most dreaded. The headquarters building, the most decrepit in the complex, lacked basic amenities and equipment. Officers and soldiers rarely received Staff grants and squatted with colleagues in the Services as they lacked official accommodation. They rarely had new or official vehicles. And to compound matters, departments under them were underfunded and under-kitted.
The result was that even Nigerian international peacekeepers were butt of jokes as their logistics supply were usually the worst in any Areas of Operation. But all that changed as Air Chief Marshal Dike presided over the golden era of Nigeria as a Troop Contributing Country, implementing deliberate re-equipment and re-kiting of Contingents serving in United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2009. When the Contingent Equipment (COE) holdings arrived in in mission areas, Nigeria ceased being a laughing stock.
Part of the non-combat equipment holding was a Level Two Hospital installed in UNAMID and manned by UN-mandated 35 specialised personnel. It was tasked with providing second line health care, emergency resuscitation and stabilization, limb and life-saving surgical interventions, basic dental care and casualty evacuation to the next echelon.
Under Dike, Nigeria produced Code of Conduct on protection of civilians during peace keeping or enforcement operations. Following the ECOWAS capstone exercise (Ex (Exercise) COHESION), the Eastern Battalion (of the ECOWAS Standby Force – ESF) was then successfully evaluated.
He tackled personnel accommodation, commissioning the first DHQ-built barracks in over 15 years on August 6, 2009 at Mambilla Barracks. It was followed up with another commissioning by end of 2009 at Mogadishu Cantonment. They accommodated 96 officers and 200 soldiers, ratings and airmen.
Other provisions in the new accommodation especially in Mogadishu Contonment was restaurant and bar at the officers’ quarters, a 1,000 seat recreational area and special accommodation for the RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) and the Master Warrant Officers. And at DHQ, a new multi-media operations room and restaurant were added to the structure.
During the political uncertainty during the ill health and later death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Air Chief Marshal Dike led the Service Chiefs to defend the Constitution and democracy. He continuously warned officers and men under arms that “regardless of the imperfections of our political experiments, democracy remains the only acceptable form of governance.”
A member of the Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of Militants in the Niger Delta, he not only played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the programme, Dike, through the Joint Task Force (JTF) helped create the environment conducive to the amnesty offer. He also led in managing the post-amnesty security landscape that ended militancy in the region.
Dike, born in Maiduguri, Borno State, hails from Issele-Uku, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State. He was educated at St Barnabas Primary School, Ilorin and Ogbomosho Grammar School, Oyo.
He is also a graduate of Air Command and Staff College, Alabama, USA; National War College (NWC), Abuja; and University of Ibadan where he earned a Masters Degree (MSc) in Strategic Studies.
As Combatant and Instructor Pilot, Dike flew several aircraft in NAF and abroad, attending Primary Flying Training at 301 Flying Training School, Kaduna; Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, U.S; Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas for his Instructor Pilot Training and conversion courses in Italy and Czechoslovakia.
Granted Regular Combatant Commission into NAF as Pilot Officer on June 21, 1975, he was promoted Flying Officer on January 22, 1977. He became Flight Lieutenant (January, 22, 1981), Squadron Leader (July 22, 1985; Wing Commander (January 22, 1991), and Group Captain (January 22, 1996).
He attained the rank of Air Commodore on January, 22, 2001; Air Vice Marshal on January 22, 2004, and became Air Marshal on May 30, 2006 on his appointment as Nigeria’s 15th Chief of the Air Staff (CAS).
An Instructor Pilot, Dike was Chief Flying Instructor, 303 Flying Training School (FTS); Commander, ECOMOG Air Detachment, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Directing Staff, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji; Commander, National Air Defence Corps; Director of Operations, NAF Headquarters; Commander, Nigerian Air Force Station, Yola; and Airport Commandant, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Appointed Commander, Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Air Chief Marshal Dike later became Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command (TC) and Tactical Air Command (TAC), Makurdi.
As AOC TAC, Air Marshal Paul Dike led the Presidential Task Force on Aviation Reform. He assumed office as CAS on June 1, 2006. On August 20, 2008, he was appointed by late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua as CDS, the second Air Force senior officer to attain the position but first to attain the Rank of Air Chief Marshal.
He is a recipient of National Honours of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR); Most Outstanding Air Force Officer Award (1996); Chief of the Air Staff Prize for Excellence at NWC Abuja. Dike was also inducted into the HALL OF FAME of U.S. Air University. Other medals and decorations received include FSS, MSS, (psc+) and fwc. He is happily married and loves tennis.
Congratulations and happy birthday to Chief Air Marshal Dike who served both Nigeria and Africa with exemplary commitment and impact.
*Onuorah wrote in from Abuja
