By Our Reporter
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, as the new Minister of Defence to swiftly fill the vacancy at the helm of the nation’s defence apparatus.
It was gathered that the nomination was conveyed in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Musa is proposed as the successor to Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned from the position on Monday on health grounds.
General Musa, 58, is a decorated officer who served as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) from 2023 until October 2025. His military career is marked by several distinguished honours, including the prestigious Colin Powell Award for Soldiering, which he received in 2012.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, the General Musa received his early education in the state before proceeding to the College of Advanced Studies in Zaria.
He entered the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 1986 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army in 1991 after earning a Bachelor of Science degree.
His extensive career includes a range of strategic command and staff appointments. He has served as General Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations at the Headquarters of the 81 Division; Commanding Officer of the 73 Battalion; and Assistant Director of Operational Requirements in the Department of Army Policy and Plans.
In more recent operational roles, Musa served as Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS), Training/Operations at the Headquarters Infantry Centre and Corps in 2019. He later commanded Sector 3 of Operation Lafiya Dole and the Sector 3 Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Region.
His appointment as Theatre Commander of the critical Operation Hadin Kai in 2021 placed him at the forefront of the counter-insurgency campaign in the North-East, and subsequently served as Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps before his appointment by President Tinubu as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in 2023.
In his letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed strong confidence in General Musa’s capability to lead the Ministry of Defence and to further strengthen the country’s security architecture.
The nomination now awaits the constitutional process of screening and confirmation by the Senate.
The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, on Monday resigned his appointment, with immediate effect.
Badaru in his resignation letter to President Tinubu said he was resigning on personal health grounds.
Special Adviser to the President, on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed Badaru's the resignation in a statement on Monday, saying that President Tinubu had accepted the resignation and thanked Abubakar for his services to the nation.
Onanuga said in the statement that President Tinubu will likely inform the Senate of Badaru’s successor later this week.
Badaru Abubakar, 63, was a two-term governor of Jigawa State from 2015 to 2023, and was appointed as a minister on August 21, 2023, by President Tinubu.
His resignation comes amid President Tinubu’s declaration of a national security emergency, with plans to elaborate on its scope in due course.
Political observers had already projected that the immediate past CDS, Gen. Musa, may emerged the Nigeria’s new defence Minister being from Kaduna State, North West, just like Badaru.
It is being discussed that Musa’s visit to Aso Rock Monday evening for a meeting with President Tinubu, according to findings, is a precursor to a major shake-up by Tinubu in the wake of growing insecurity in the country.
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