—Shake-up:
In what could be considered a major shake-up in the Nigerian Army, the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Kenneth Minimah, has approved the redeployment of 298 officers, including 37 major-generals, 65 brigadier-generals and 196 colonels.
Those affected include the Commander of the Guards Brigade (Presidential Guards), General Officers Commanding (GOCs), Branch Chiefs, Directors at Army and Defence Headquarters, Corps Commanders and Brigade Commanders.
To resume as Commander of the Guards Brigade is Brigadier-General Anthony Omozoje, who takes over from Major General Emmanuel Atewe.
Atewe is scheduled to resume as Commander, Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield, in the Niger Delta.
The Guards Brigade is the elite brigade in charge of the security of the president and commander-in-chief.
Those appointed GOCs include Major-General Kenneth Osuji, who takes over from Major-General Garba Wahab as GOC, 1 Division, Kaduna; Major-General Abejirin succeeds Major-General Ahmed Jibrin as GOC, 2 Division, Ibadan; Major-General J.S. Zaruwa moves from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to 3 Division, Jos, as GOC.
The rest are Major-General T.I. Dibi, who assumes office as GOC, 81 Division, Lagos, and Major-General Shehu Yusuf, who is to resume as GOC, 82 Division, Enugu.
Also affected in the redeployment are Major-General M.D. Abubakar, who takes over from the current COAS as Commander, Infantry Centre (CIC) at Infantry Corps Centre (ICC), Jaji, Kaduna; Major-General S.U. Labaran, who moves to the Nigerian Army Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (NAEME) as Commander (CCEME); Major-General S.N. Mu’azu, who moves to the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre (NAPKC) as Commander; Major-General A.A. Salihu, who moves from the Army Headquarters to the Nigerian Army Signal School (NASS) as Commandant, and Major-General I.I. Abbah, who is to resume at the Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary as Military Secretary (MS (A).
Other appointments include those of Major-General P.A.T. Akem, who takes over from Major-General R.I.D. Isa, who moves to MOD as Coordinator, Peace Keeping Operation, as Provost Marshal (PM), Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police (NACMP); Major-General A. Chukwu, who resumes as Chief of Civil-Military Affairs (CCMA) in the Department of Civil-Military Affairs (DCMA); Major-General O.S. Adeosun, who leaves the Defence Headquarters for the Department of Army Logistics as Chief of Logistics (COLOG).
Also on the redeployment list are Major-General J.O. Nwaogbo, who is to resume as Chief of Policy and Plan (COPP) at the Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plans (DAPP); Major-General S.Z. Uba, who is to resume at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Minna, as Commandant; Major-General J.A.H. Ewansiha, who takes over at the Department of Training and Operations (DATOP) as Chief of Training and Operation (CTOP).
Major-Generals Awala, Jibrin and Wahab are to move to Defence Headquarters as Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP), Army Headquarters, as Chief of Standard and Evaluation (CASE) and Chief of Administration (COA) respectively; Major-General C.O. Okoro was redeployed as Commander, Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI), as well as Major-General A.B. Abubakar as Director, Personnel Service, Department of Administration, Army Headquarters.
Some of the brigadier-generals redeployed include the former aide de camp (ADC) to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Brigadier-General Mustapha Onoyiveta, who remains in the COAS office as Chief of Staff (COS); Brigadier-General P.J.O. Bojie, who resumes at the Department of Army Standard and Evaluation (DASE); Brigadier-General Adeosun, who was posted to 14 Brigade as Commander, and Brigadier-General A.A. Momoh, Commander, 31 Brigade.
