{"id":105147,"date":"2025-12-02T22:23:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105147"},"modified":"2025-12-02T22:23:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:23:35","slug":"nigerias-president-taps-ex-top-general-to-replace-defence-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105147","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s president taps ex-top general to replace defence minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Bola Tinubu nominated Nigeria\u2019s former top general to replace the defence minister, who resigned amid a surge in mass kidnappings and Islamist attacks in the north that have led the president to declare a security emergency.<\/p>\n

Christopher Musa, 58, served as Nigeria\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October this year. He will succeed Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, a former regional governor who stepped down as defence minister on Monday, citing health reasons.<\/p>\n

Tinubu conveyed the nomination in a letter to parliament, the president\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Tinubu expressed confidence in General Musa\u2019s ability to lead the Ministry of Defence and further strengthen Nigeria\u2019s security architecture,\u201d his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The appointment comes days after Tinubu declared a\u00a0security emergency\u00a0in response to worsening violence.<\/p>\n

More than\u00a0200 schoolchildren\u00a0kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school on November 24 remain missing. They are among at least 402 people abducted since mid-November, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Tinubu has ordered the recruitment of 50,000 police officers, more army enlistment, and the redeployment to frontline duties of police assigned to protect VIPs. Forest guards have also been deployed to help flush out armed gangs.<\/p>\n

Cheta Nwanze, partner at consultancy SBM Intelligence, said insecurity in the wider Sahel region was spilling into Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe implication is not just a change in personnel, but a glaring reminder of the need for a fundamentally new, community-trusted approach to security that addresses both internal governance and regional threats,\u201d said Nwanze.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump, who last month threatened military action over the treatment of Christians in the country. Nigeria says claims that Christians face persecution misrepresent a complex security situation and do not take into account efforts to safeguard religious freedom.<\/p>\n

Washington is\u00a0considering actions\u00a0including sanctions and engagement on counterterrorism, a senior U.S. State Department official said on November 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Nigeria'sPresident Bola Tinubu nominated Nigeria’s former top general to replace the defence minister, who resigned amid a surge in mass kidnappings and Islamist attacks in the north that has led the president to declare a security emergency.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,2051,1300,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-defence-minister","category-nigeria","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}