Less than a month after taking office, President Bola Tinubu made significant changes to the defence forces on Monday, removing the security chiefs and the police commissioner.
Since taking office on May 29, Tinubu has prioritised security and promised reforms to the industry, including hiring more military and police personnel and providing them with better pay and equipment.
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As insecurity has extended to most of the nation, Nigeria’s military is overburdened battling a long-running insurgency in the northeast and banditry and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest.
It is not unusual for a new Nigerian president to send security chiefs into early retirement upon taking office, as Tinubu did on Monday.
He picked Nuhu Ribadu, a former senior police officer and ex-head of the country’s economic and financial crimes agency, as his National Security Adviser.
Major General Christopher Musa, who until last year was leading the army’s fight against the insurgency, takes over as the new Chief of Defence Staff from Lucky Irabor.
Musa takes over leadership of the military in the aftermath of a Reuters report last year that the Nigerian Army ran a secret and illegal abortion programme targeting women and girls who had been kidnapped and raped by militants.
Musa denied the programme ever existed and said Reuters reporting was part of a foreign effort to undermine the country’s fight against the insurgents.
Tinubu also named new commanders for the army, navy and air force as well as a new head of the Nigeria Customs Service with immediate effect.
