Lagbaja: 3 Years After COAS Attahiru’s Death, 3rd Army Chief Dies In Service

As the world watches developments in the United States regarding the election of the 47th US President, Nigeria is mourning following the death of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, who passed away on Tuesday in Lagos after a period of illness.

Lagbaja died barely a year after he was appointed by President Bola Tinubu, marking a tragic blow to the nation’s military leadership.

LEADERSHIP reports that President Tinubu had on Friday, November 1, appointed 56-year-old Olufemi Oluyede, who was only promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General on Tuesday, as acting Chief of Army Staff, pending the expected return of Lagbaja from medical leave. But that was not to be.

Lagbaja’s death also marks the second time an Army Chief will die in three years, and the third since the Nigerian Civil War.

Hereunder is a brief about two other Army Chiefs who died in office:

1. Joseph Akahan (August 1967): Appointed shortly before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, Akahan died in a helicopter crash on his way to his hometown of Gboko in present-day Benue State, after visiting the frontlines in Nsukka, in the defunct Eastern Region.

2. Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, appointed in January 2021 to replace Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai as COAS, died just months into his tenure in May 2021. Attahiru died when his aircraft reportedly encountered severe weather conditions and crashed, killing him and 10 members of his entourage while on an official assignment from Abuja to Kaduna State.