Breaking: Ex-CDS Gen. Musa Returns as Tinubu’s New Defence Minister

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, as Nigeria’s new Minister of Defence.

The nomination was conveyed in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in which President Tinubu requested the Senate’s confirmation of General Musa as the successor to Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned on Monday.

General Musa, who will turn 58 on December 25, is a highly decorated senior officer who served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Colin Powell Award for Soldiering, which he received in 2012.

Born in Sokoto in 1967, Musa completed his primary and secondary education in the state before attending the College of Advanced Studies, Zaria. He graduated in 1986 and immediately enrolled in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree upon commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in 1991.

Over the course of a distinguished career spanning more than three decades, General Musa has held key command and staff appointments, including General Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations, HQ 81 Division; Commanding Officer, 73 Battalion; and Assistant Director, Operational Requirements, Department of Army Policy and Plans. He also served as Infantry Representative and Training Team Member at the Headquarters of the Nigerian Army Armour Corps.

In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations at the Infantry Centre and Corps, and later as Commander of Sector 3 under Operation Lafiya Dole. He subsequently became Commander of Sector 3 of the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region.

By 2021, Musa had been appointed Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, after which he assumed the role of Commander, Nigerian Army Infantry Corps—positions that solidified his reputation as an experienced operational leader. President Tinubu appointed him Chief of Defence Staff in 2023.

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In his letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed strong confidence in General Musa’s capacity to steer the Ministry of Defence and enhance Nigeria’s security architecture.