By Akinwale Kasali, Ayodele Oni & Uche Mbah
President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff, COAS. This followed the death of the former COAS, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru in a plane crash, along with other Military Personnel, including two Brigadier-Generals, while on an official trip to Kaduna.
A statement by Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu Onyema, the Acting Director, Defense Information, announced Yahaya’s appointment by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeri.
The Statement reads:
“The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.
“Prior to his appointment, Major General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency military outfit in the North East, code named Operation HADIN KAI.”
A tweet from the Presidential Aide, Social Media, Bashir Ahmad, had earlier announced Yahaya’s appointment.
It reads:
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.”
Before this announcement, two names had been speculated in the Social Media as having been appointed, including the incumbent GOC, 1 Div, Kaduna. The speculations were fake.
On their own, a group from the South-east had been throwing in the names of two South-easterners, hoping that one of them could be appointed. Buhari did not give them that long- yearned satisfaction. Their complaint has been that the Zone has no representative in the Security Architecture of the country.
