Shake-up continues as army chief appoints, redeploys more Senior Officers

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Major General Taoreed Lagbaja has again approved the appointment and redeployment of more Senior officers in the tanks of Major Generals and Brigadier Generals across the Nigerian Army formations and units in the country.

This was contained in a statement made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu.

The statement explained that the Fresh exercise was in continuation of the effort by the Army Chief to rejig the Nigerian Army (NA) towards ensuring administrative and operational efficiency, after assuming command.

According to the statement, those affected in the fresh redeployment include some Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) of the Defence and Army Headquarters, Corps Commanders, Commandants of Nigerian Army Training Institutions, Brigade Commanders, Commanding Officers and several others.

Among the new General Officers Commanding (GOCs) appointees are; “Major General VU Okoro from Department of Army Operations to Headquarters 2 Division as the new GOC, Major General HT Dada from Defence Intelligence Agency to Headquarters 82 Division as the GOC, Major General MT Usman redeployed to 81 Division as GOC from HQ 2 Division and Major Gen KA Isoni who will assume Command as the Commander Army Headquarters Garrison, while Major General AE Abubakar is redeployed from Headquarters 7 Division / Sector 1 OPHK to Headquarters 3 Division NA as GOC and Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN.”

The newly appointed Corps Commanders are; “Major General GO Adesina, who has been redeployed from Defence Headquarters to Headquarters Nigerian Army Signals Corps and appointed Corps Commander, Major General OO Oluyede from Office of the COAS Directorate of Inspection and Compliance to Headquarters Infantry Corps as Corps Commander, while Major General HG Tafida has been redeployed from DICON to Headquarters Nigerian Army Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as the new Corps Commander. Major General EL Ugwuoke is appointed Corps Commander Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps from AHQ Department of Logistics and Brigadier General SI Musa as the new Acting Director Legal Service, while Brigadier General ND Shagaya is now the Commandant Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport.”

Among the newly redeployed Defence and Army Headquarters Principal Staff Officers are; “Major General EV Onumajuru from Department of Special Services and Programmes (Army) to Defence Headquarters and appointed Chief of Defence Operations, Major General ES Buba from Defence Intelligence Agency to Defence Headquarters and appointed Director Defence Media Operations, Major General OR Aiyenigba from Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police and appointed Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, Major General OJ Akpor has been appointed Chief of Administration (Army).

“Others are Major General HT Wesley from TRADOC to Army Headquarters as Chief of Special Services and Programmes (Army), Major General Y Yahaya from Defence Headquarters to Department of Personnel Management and appointed Chief of Personnel Management, while Major General IM Jallo moves from Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plans to Office of the COAS as Director Inspection and Compliance.

“Other senior officers affected are Major General EA Anaryu from Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre to Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre and appointed Deputy Commandant, Brigadier General NJ Edet from Headquarters 9 Brigade to Headquarters 14 Brigade as the new commander, while Brig Gen JIB Manjang was redeployed from Army War College Nigeria to the Army College of Logistic and Management and appointed Deputy Commandant among several others.”

The statement clarified that redeployment was routine, particularly with the recent retirement of some senior officers as a result of the appointment of the new Army leadership and that ” the redeployments take effect from”.