Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet is new NAF spokesperson tribuneonlineng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneonlineng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kingsley Nwezeh writes that the appointment of new service chiefs has renewed hopes for a renewed onslaught against insurgents, bandits and other criminal gangs whose despicable activities have shot issues of insecurity into a national emergency
With the appointment of new service chiefs last week by President Muhammadu Buhari, all eyes are now on the new military helmsmen to deliver where their predecessors failed.
The appointment of the new service chiefs, notably, Major General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Vice Marshal Oladayo Amao and Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Zubairu Gambo, was a culmination of strident calls by stakeholders for a change of strategy in a conflict, particularly against Boko Haram insurgents that has become a war of attrition.
Vanguard News
What you didn’t know about new Service Chiefs
On
Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff – How Borno indigene foretold his elevation in 2016
In 2016, Ibrahim Uba Yusuf, an indigene of Borno was so impressed with new Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor that he declared him his man of the year in a local publication in Maiduguri.
Before then, the entire Sambisa Forest had fallen to Gboko Haram but Irabor led the operations that recovered greater part of the forest. Yusuf celebrated Irabor this way: “The year 2016 is remarkable to not only the people of Borno or North East but also the whole of Nigeria because of the fall of camp and hideout of the Boko Haram leader Shekau in Sambisa.
•Changes made to inject fresh ideas into system, says presidency
•National Assembly, Afenifere, ACF, others welcome new appointments
By Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Kingsley Nwezeh, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Adedayo Akinwale, Udora Orizu in Abuja, Seriki Adinoyi in Jos, John Shiklam in Kaduna, George Okoh in Makurdi
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday injected fresh vigour into efforts by his administration to combat insurgency, banditry and other forms of criminality with the appointment of new service chiefs.
Buhari’s media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement that announced the appointments, named tested insurgency war general, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor as the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS); Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru as Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo as the Chief of Naval Staff; while Air-Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao emerged the Chief of Air Staff.
Maj. General LEO Irabor
This man is a known name in the military, mostly as the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole tasked with reclaiming the country’s territory from Boko Haram. Lucky Irabor led his men to some major gains in the fight against insurgency in the Northeast. His leadership style has been commended as open as he regularly held press briefings to update the country on the progress of his troops. He has been described by people within and outside the force as a brave, courageous and upright person.
However, in 2017, the Agbor native from Delta State was posted to Field Commander, Multinational Joint Task to coordinate the regional effort to tackle insurgency.