WEEKS after the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, has disappeared from public space in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu appointed Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede, a major general, to act in his place on Wednesday, October 30.
According to a statement by the President’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, Oluyede will act in the position pending when Lagbaja, whom the presidency said was indisposed, returns to Nigeria.
Until his appointment, Oluyede served as the 56th commander of the elite Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army, based in Jaji, Kaduna.
The 56-year-old Oluyede and Lagbaja were coursemates and members of the 39th Regular Course.
According to his profile, which accompanied Onanuga’s statement, Oluyede was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1992. He rose to major-general in September 2020.
He has led many commands since his commissioning as an officer. He was platoon commander and adjutant at 65 Battalion, company commander at 177 Guards Battalion, staff officer Guards Brigade, commandant amphibious Training School.
Oluyede has participated in several operations, including the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) mission in Liberia, Operation Harmony IV in Bakassi, and Operation HADIN KAI in the North-East theatre of operations, where he commanded 27 Task Force Brigade.
He has also earned many honours for his service in various fields of operations. He is married and has three children.
The appointment is coming a few days after the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said the Armed Forces of Nigeria had no provision for an acting chief of Army staff.
Consequently, the DHQ said it would not appoint any officer to stand in for the COAS Lagbaja, who has been away from the country for some time.
These were contained in a statement released by the DHQ on its official X handle on Monday, October 21, and signed by the director of defence information, Tukur Gusau, a brigadier general.
The statement followed rumours that an acting COAS had been appointed to stand in for Lagbaja, whose absence forced many Nigerians to suspect he was ill.
The suspicion climaxed on Sunday when a former presidential aide and social media commentator, Jackson Ude, announced on X that the COAS was dead.
Responding, the Army said the rumours were untrue.
In the statement released on Monday, the DHQ said Lagbaja was on “a well-deserved rest as part of his 2024 annual leave.”
It added that the Armed Forces of Nigeria were professionally managed and all the service chiefs performed their duties as stipulated in the Nigerian Constitution.
A reporter with the ICIR
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