Army redeploys GOCs, Theatre Commanders in shake-up

A major shake up has occurred in the Nigerian Army formations with the redeployment of Commanding Officers, Principal Staff Officers (PSO) and General Officers Commanding (GOC) from their posts to new commands.

Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Rogers Nicholas has been replaced with Major General Abubakar Dikko, Commander of the newly established Operation Last Hold.

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“The Nigerian Army has announced a major redeployment of senior officers in Command, Staff and other appointments. The posting affected Principal Staff Officers both at the Defence and Army Headquarters as well as General Officers Commanding (GOCs),” a statement by the army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Texas Chukwu stated.

The statement did not disclose the new position of the outgoing theatre Commander, Gen Nicholas whose stint at the theatre experienced increasing Boko Haram attacks and loss of army personnel.

The new theatre Commander will be assisted by Brig. Gen. A.O Abdullahi as acting Commander Sector 2, Operation LAFIYA DOLE and Brig. Gen. U.U Bassey as Acting Commander Sector 3, Operation LAFIYA DOLE. The army said the change was aimed at actualising the vision of the Chief of Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.

Ex-theatre Commander and Field Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Ndjamena Chad, Major General Lucky Irabor now moves to Defence Headquarters as Chief of Defence Training and Operations while his predecessor at MNJTF, Major General Lamidi Adeosun takes over as Chief of Training and Operations at the Army Headquarters.