The Nigerian military has appointed Major General Lucky Irabor as the new Theatre Commander of Operation Lafia Dole, the anti-insurgency operation of the military in the North east. Before his appointment, Irabor was Deputy Theatre Commandant of the operation.

He takes over from Major General Hassan Umaru who has been moved to the Army Headquarters in Abuja as Chief of Training and Operations to replace Major General Yushu Moshood, who died recently in a road accident along Maiduguri-Damaturu road while on an official assignment.

At the handing over ceremony held at the Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri on Thursday, Major General Irabor said he would sustain the military operations against terrorists in the North east in order to achieve stability in the region.

Umaru and Irabor were respectively named Commandant and Deputy Commandants to Operation Lafia Dole in December, 2015

Announcing their appointment on December 19, 2015, acting Director, Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, then a Colonel, said that the changes were made as part of a restructuring of the war strategy to combat insurgents in the North east.