•General Christopher Musa (rtd)
President Bola Tinubu has nominated General Christopher Gwabin Musa (retired) as the new Minister of Defence.
In a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu conveyed Musa’s nomination as the successor to Mohammed Badaru Abubakar who resigned yesterday.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
He said in the letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed confidence in General Musa’s ability to lead the Ministry of Defence and further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture
Musa who will turn 58, on December 25, served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025 when the President relieved him of the job in October on the heels of an alleged aborted coup plot against the president.
The former CDS who was sighted at the Presidential Villa yesterday, December 1, had a private meeting with the President in his office at the State House, a few hours before the announcement of the resignation of the former Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, General Musa received his primary and secondary education there before attending the College of Advanced Studies in Zaria. He graduated in 1986 and enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy the same year, earning a Bachelor of Science degree upon graduation in 1991.
Musa was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1991 and has since had a distinguished career. His appointments include General Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations at HQ 81 Division; Commanding Officer, 73 Battalion; Assistant Director, Operational Requirements, Department of Army Policy and Plans; and Infantry Representative/Member, Training Team, HQ Nigerian Army Armour Corps.
In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations, Headquarters Infantry Centre and Corps; Commander, Sector 3, Operation Lafiya Dole; and Commander, Sector 3 Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Region.
In 2021, General Musa was appointed Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai. He later became Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps before being appointed Chief of Defence Staff by President Tinubu in 2023.
