The man, Major General Farouk Yahaya


Post created on 10:26 am

Major General Farouk Yahaya,Chief of Army Staff

….20 generals likely to leave on his appointment

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Thursday appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.

This is coming one week after the demise of the former COAS, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 others in a plane crash in Kaduna.

The appointment contained in a statement by the Acting Director, Defence Information, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu reads, “The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.

“Prior to his appointment Major General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency military outfit in the North East code named Operation Hadin Kai.”

Issuing an official profile of the new Chief of Army Staff, the statement read:  “The new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General Farouk Yahaya was born on 5 January 1966 in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto state. Maj Gen Yahaya who is a member of the 37 Regular Course of the prestigious Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), started his cadet training on 27 September 1985 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on 22 September 1990. Maj Gen Yahaya has held several appointments including Staff, Instructional and Command.

“Notable among the appointments held by the new COAS are Garrison Commander Headquarters Guards Brigade, Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Deputy Director Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary, Deputy Director Army Research and Development and the Chief of Staff, Headquarters Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield.

Major General Farouk Yahaya hails from Zamfara State and is a proud holder of several honours and awards, some of which include, Forces Service Star, Meritorious Service Star, Distinguished Service Star, Grand Service Star, Passed staff course (Dagger), National Defence Course (Chile), Economic Community of West Africa State Monitoring Group Medal, Command Medal, Field Command Medal, General Operations Medal, Silver Jubilee Medal and Golden Jubilee Medal. He is happily married and blessed with children.

 

20 Course 35, 36 generals face instant retirement

Meanwhile with the appointment of Major General Farouk as new COAS, no fewer than 20 major generals from courses 35 and 36 will leave the force. According to a source, Farouk,a  Regular Course 37  intake has senior officers in courses 36 and 35 and it is a military tradition for senior officers to take a bow whenever a junior officer is appointed a COAS, as they cannot be saluting their junior officer.

This implies that about 20 Major-Generals and Brigadier-Generals made up of five remaining Regular Course 35 intakes and 15 Regular Course 36 intakes would have to proceed on retirement.

With the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, being a Regular Course 34 intake, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao both being Regular Course 35 intakes, Major General Yahaya becomes the most junior service chief as Course 37.

 

 


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