The Senate has confirmed the new service chiefs nominated by President Bola Tinubu after last Friday’s major reshuffle.
The Senate during plenary on Wednesday, October 29, confirmed Olufemi Oluyede, a lieutenant general, as Chief of Defence Staff, Wahidi Shaibu, a major general, as Chief of Army staff, Idi Abbas, a rear admiral, as Chief of Naval staff, and Kennedy Aneke, an air vice marshal, as Chief of Air Staff.
The confirmation came after a two-hour closed-door session during which senators grilled the nominees on their strategies for enhancing national security and reforming the armed forces.
Tinubu, in a letter he to the Senate on Monday, urged lawmakers to grant “expeditious consideration” to the nominees, after he held a closed-door meeting with the new service chiefs at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, referred the president’s request to the Committee of the Whole for screening and confirmation, slated for Wednesday.
The ICIR reported that the president sacked Nigeria’s service chiefs and replaced them in a major shake-up of the nation’s security hierarchy on October 24.
Tinubu said the shake-up was “in furtherance of the efforts of the Federal Government to strengthen the national security architecture.”
He urged the new appointees to justify the trust placed in them by upholding professionalism, vigilance, and unity within the Armed Forces.
The administration expressed confidence that, once confirmed, the new appointments would strengthen inter-agency collaboration and enhance the fight against insurgency, banditry, and other security threats across the country.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.