Participation in the Nigerian counter coup of July 1966
Dimka, then a lieutenant with the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna, was one of the many officers of northern Nigerian origin including Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed, staged what became known as the Nigerian Counter-Coup of 1966 because of grievances they felt towards the administration of General Aguiyi Ironsi's government which quelled the 15 January 1966 coup. Dimka along with Lieutenant Dambo are alleged to have shot and killed Lieutenant Colonel Michael Okoro, Commander of the 3rd Battalion during the July mutiny. Another act of notoriety from the July mutiny was Dimka's pursuit and probable intent to murder his Brigade Major. Before the mutiny, Major Ogbemudia had detained Lieutenant Dimka for violating an order forbidding unauthorized troop movement. Under interrogation by Ogbemudia, Dimka complained of ethnic victimization and was subsequently released by Ogbemudia. Vexed by Ogbemudia's treatment of him, Dimka hatched a plot to kill Major Ogbemudia. Fortunately, Ogbemudia was tipped off by Major Abba Kyari and Colonel Hassan Katsina who provided an escape Landrover armed with an SMG gun. Dimka marshaled a group of northern soldiers who pursued Ogbemudia all the way from Kaduna to Owo, Ondo State where Ogbemudia abandoned his Landrover and scaled a 6-foot fence into a dense jungle to escape Dimka and his soldiers.
General Mohammed was assassinated along with his aide-de-camp Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa when his Mercedes-Benz was ambushed by a group of assassins consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Dimka, Major Rabo, Captain Parwang and Lieutenant Seri in Ikoyi, Lagos. In a planned broadcast to the nation, Lieutenant Colonel Dimka had cited corruption, indecision, arrest and detention without trial, weakness on the part of the Head of State and maladministration in general as the reasons for overthrowing the government. The coup was crushed several hours later by forces loyal to the government and Dimka fled to the premises of Radio Nigeria at Ikoyi where he had made a broadcast to the nation. He was eventually arrested in the company of a prostitute in Eastern Nigeria. Following a court martial, Lieutenant Colonel Dimka and another 38 military officers and civilians were executed by firing squad. The former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, was implicated in the abortive coup. The British Government refused to extradite Gowon. Years later Gowon was granted an official pardon by civilian president Shehu Shagari and his rank and other benefits were fully restored in 1987 by General Ibrahim Babangida. General Murtala Mohammed was succeeded by Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo.
