Army Appoints, Redeploys Senior Officers In Major Shake Up

In what appears to be a major shakeup, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieut Gen Faruk Yahaya, has approved the redeployment of Major Generals, Brigadier Generals and several other senior officers across Nigerian Army formations and units in the country.

A statement by the director of Army Public Relations, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, said the move is part of efforts to ensure administrative and operational efficiency in the Nigerian Army (NA), amidst recent operational successes recorded in combating emerging security challenges.

He said, “It is imperative to note that redeployment in the Nigerian Army is routine, particularly  with the recent promotion of senior officers as approved by the Army Council for the year 2022”.

Nwachukwu noted that the redeployment of all  appointees takes effect from 11 January 2022.

Nwachukwu listed those affected in the redeployment to include some principal staff officers of the Army Headquarters, Corps commanders, commandants of Nigerian Army training institutions, brigade commanders, commanding officers and several others.

Accordingly, Brigadier General TI Gusau has been redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Special Services to the Directorate of Defence Information as the new director.

According to the statement, notable among the new General Officers’ Commanding (GOC) appointees are Major General IS Ali from Headquarters 3 Division to Theatre Command as the new Theatre Commander of Joint Task Force, North East Operation Hadin Kai, while Major General AB Ibrahim moves from Army Headquarters Department of Training to Headquarters 3 Division as the new GOC.

Commander Operation Safe Haven, Major General AS Chinade, was moved from Headquarters 2 Division to Headquarters 82 Division as GOC, while Major General GM Mutkut is to assume command as the GOC 8 Division and Commander Operation Hadarin Daji (NW) from Army Headquarters  Department of Policy and Plan.

He named those newly appointed Corps Commanders as  Major General CG Musa who has been moved from Theatre Command  to Headquarters Infantry Corps Centre as the new Corps Commander; Major General MS Ahmed, from Headquarters Theatre Command (NE) to Headquarters Nigerian Army Armoured  Corps as Corps Commander;  Major General BR Sinjen, from Nigerian Army School of Artillery to Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery as the new Corps Commander; Major General PE Eromosele, from National Defence College to Headquarters Nigerian Army Engineers; Major General AA Ayannuga, from Army Headquarters Department of Army Transformation to Nigerian Army Cyber Warfare Command, and Major General GS Abdullahi, from Defence Space Administration to Headquarters Nigerian Army Signals.

The statement said Major General SE Udounwa  has been redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Special Services and Programmes to Defence  Headquarters as Chief of Defence Training and Operations; Major General SG Mohammed redeployed from Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plans to the Department of Army Training as Chief of Training; Major General UT Musa redeployed from Headquarters 82 Division to the Department of Army Administration as Director Personnel Management, and Major General Y Yahaya, moved from Headquaters 31 Artillery Brigade to Department of Army Administration as the director, Manpower (Army), among  several others.

He listed the newly redeployed Brigade Commanders to include Brigadier General AM Umar, from the Office of the Chief of Army Staff to Headquarters Guards Brigade; Brigadier General S Aliyu, from Headquarters 6 Division to Headquarters 63 Brigade; Brigadier General HD Bobbo, from National Defence College to Headquarters 31 Brigade, and Brigadier General MT Aminu, from Army War College Nigeria to Headquarters 35 Brigade among several others.