On Friday, President Bola Tinubu reshuffled the nation’s service chiefs. The decision was the first deliberate change by the president to the leaders of his security team since he took office. Only the death of Taoreed Lagbaja, former chief of army staff, had forced a change in the leadership of the Nigerian Army.

In a statement, Sunday Dare, special adviser to the president on public communication, said the rejig is intended to “strengthen the national security architecture”.

Christopher Musa was relieved of his role as the chief of defence staff (CDS), and Olufemi Oluyede, the lieutenant general who served as the chief of army staff (COAS), took his place.

Waidi Shaibu, a major general, filled Oluyede’s previous role. Sunday Aneke, an air vice marshal, took over as air chief, while Idi Abbas, a rear admiral, became the new naval chief.

Below are brief profiles of the newly deployed service chiefs:

Oluyede was born on June 21, 1968, in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti state, where he had his primary and secondary school education.

He began his military career in 1987 as a member of the 39 regular course. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1992 and rose to the rank of major general in September 2020.

He has participated in several operations, including the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) mission in Liberia, Operation Harmony IV in Bakassi, and Operation Hadin Kai in the north-east theatre of operations.

He was also the commander of the 27th Task Force Brigade. Oluyede was the COAS until now. He succeeded the late Lagbaja in November 2024. Lagbaja had died after a protracted battle with illness.

Oluyede was promoted to a lieutenant-general by Tinubu shortly after his resumption as COAS in 2024.