President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major-General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.
This was contained in a statement signed and released on Thursday by military spokesperson Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu.
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 Counterterrorism, Counter-Insurgency military outfit in the North East code named Operation HADIN KAI, the statement said.
His appointment comes days after the immediate past army chief, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru died in a Kaduna air-crash along with 10 other military officials.
In his response to the incident, President Buhari had described the late officers as ““heroes who paid the ultimate price for peace and security in the land.”
They were buried last Saturday at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja.
Major-General Yahaya’s appointment comes as the country continues to battle several security challenges, including but not limited to an insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, secessionist agitations in the South-East and Fulani-Herdsmen crises across the Middle-Belt and several South-West states.
