Following the death of Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, General Ibrahim Attahiru in a plane crash on 21st May, 2021, the President Muhammadu Buhari six days after, named his successor as Major General Farouk Yahaya, as stated by the Acting Defense Information Director, Onyema Nwachukwu.
The new Chief of Army Staff whose impressive CV has been circulated by multiple news outlets was born on January 5, 1966, in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto State. He commenced cadet training at Nigerian Defence Academy on September 27, 1985, and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on September 22, 1990.
On 28th May, 2021, the newly appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS), assumed duty at the Army headquarters in Abuja as the 22nd Chief of Army staff in the country, as stated in the Premium Times.
In the military service, it is rumored that senior military officers are expected to proceed on retirement whenever a junior officer has been appointed to be Chief. About twenty serving generals in the Army who commenced cadet training before General Yahaya could be affected by this tradition.
Several news sources gathered that Buhari’s decision to appoint a junior officer may not be unconnected with the need to flush out old hands in the service to pave way for younger officers who can reinvigorate the counter-insurgency war. In a time when the level of insecurity in various quarters of the country has peaked and plateaued, many remain hopeful that this appointment will calm the storm.
