The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has approved an extensive series of postings and appointments of senior officers to command, staff and training positions across the Nigerian Army, with the redeployments taking effect immediately and intended to strengthen leadership, improve command efficiency and enhance ongoing operations, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Lieutenant Colonel Appolonia Anele, said. Key appointments include Major General Bamidele Alabi as Chief of Policy and Plans (Army Headquarters), Major General Jamal Abdulsalam as Chief of Defence Operations at Defence Headquarters, Major General Peter Mala as Commander, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), and Major General Samson Jiya as Chief of Defence Accounts and Budget; other strategic moves place Major General Mayirenso Saraso as Chief of Operations (Army), Major General Isa Abdullahi as Chief of Administration (Army), Major General Musa Etsu-Ndagi as Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Major General Abubakar Haruna as Commander, NATRAC Kontagora, and Major General Philip Ilodibia as Chief of Defence Space Administration. In the corps and services, Major Generals Godwin Mutkut, Umar Abubakar, John Adeyemo and Mohammed Abdullahi take over as Corps Commanders for Infantry, Armour, Artillery and Signals respectively, while Major General Taofik Sidick is Chief of Accounts and Budget (Army), Major General Abdullahi Ibrahim heads Ordnance, Major General Adeyinka Adereti commands Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Major General Nansak Shagaya leads Supply and Transport and Brigadier General Yusha’u Ahmed is Acting Corps Commander, Education. Major General Oluyemi Olatoye was named Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, with Major General Emmanuel Mustapha,
Major General Adamu Hassan and Brigadier General John Bulus appointed Commandants of the Nigerian Army Signal School, Nigerian Army School of Artillery and Nigerian Army School of Finance and Accounts respectively; new field commanders include Major General Saidu Audu as Force Commander, Multi-National Joint Task Force in N’Djamena, Major General Warrah Idris as Commander, Joint Task Force North West (Operation FANSAN YAMMA) and Major General Oluremi Fadairo as General Officer Commanding 82 Division and Commander, Joint Task Force South East (Operation UDO KA). The COAS also appointed Major General Olatokumbo Bello Director of Defence Media Operations and Brigadier General Samaila Uba Director of Defence Information, and urged officers to discharge their duties with professionalism and to uphold loyalty, selfless service, integrity and excellence.
The appointments come hours after President Bola Tinubu decorated Shaibu and other new service chiefs — including General Olufemi Oluyede as Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Kennedy Aneke as Chief of Air Staff and Vice Admiral Idi Abbas as Chief of Naval Staff — following their confirmation by the Senate, and follow recent reports of an alleged coup plot that the Defence Headquarters and presidential advisers have dismissed as false, attributing related arrests to indiscipline rather than an organized attempt to overthrow the government.
