As part of its strategic response to the country’s security challenges, the Senate says it will screen a former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, as the new Minister of Defence on Wednesday.
Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, disclosed this in a statement by his Directorate on Media and Public Affairs on Tuesday, noting the significance of the exercise in ensuring internal peace and stability.
Musa’s nomination followed the decision of former Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru, to resign from his position due to what he attributed to health issues.
Consequently, President Bola Tinubu nominated the former defence chief as Badaru’s replacement via a letter transmitted to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday.
Bamidele noted that the Senate “ is already in possession of the request of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to screen his defence minister nominee.
He added that the letter “will be read on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.
“Subsequently, it will immediately proceed to the screening of the nominee consistent with Section 147 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” he said.
“We cannot delay such a request, especially at this crucial time in the history of our fatherland. We are treating the request as a matter that directly touches the core interest of our nation so that the federal government can sustain its campaigns against bandits, extremists, terrorists, and other forces undermining our national security,” the senator added.
Bamidele further stated that since the President had declared a state of emergency on national security, both the Presidency and National Assembly must work hand in hand to ensure peace, stability, and good government.
According to him, the screening of the defence minister nominee is one of the ways to demonstrate such a synergy purely in the national interest.
The former CDS, who was sighted at the Presidential Villa on Monday, December 1, had a private meeting with the President at the State House, a few hours before Badaru’s resignation.
Commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1991, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations, Headquarters Infantry Centre and Corps in 2019; 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 his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff by President Tinubu in 2023.
