The appointment yesterday of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff by President Muhammadu Buhari, may lead to the exit of about 25 major generals who were of the Regular Course 35 and Regular Course 36.
Before he was named the new COAS, Yahaya was the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, responsible for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
By military tradition, when a junior officer is appointed into a higher post as Yahaya has been, it is an indication for his erstwhile seniors who have now become his junior to make their exit.
In this instance, Yahaya has no fewer than 25 major generals, who were his seniors as they belong to older Regular Courses.
The new COAS is of Course 37 and cannot superintend over them.
The newly named COAS is junior to the other service chiefs, as the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor is of Regular Course 34 Intake; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo and Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, both being Regular Course 35 intakes.
Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna before his deployment to Operation Hadin Kai.
The Punch reported that the appointment of Yahaya, who is from Sokoto State, was a bit delayed because the President was trying to weigh the ethnic and religious factors in naming a new COAS.
A source told the newspaper, “The President finally settled for Yahaya because many of the Generals in Regular Courses 35 and 36 were found to be from the same tribe or same state as other security chiefs in the Ministry of Defence, National Security Adviser’s office, the Navy and the Air Force.
“For instance, Major General Jamil Sarham, of Regular Course 36, former Commandant Nigerian Defence Academy is from Kano, where the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd.) and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, hail from.
“From all indications no fewer than 25 major generals from courses 35 and 36 will leave the force with the appointment of Yahaya.”
The source also cited another contender to the top military position, the Chief of Policy and Plan Maj. Gen. Benjamin Ahanotu of Regular Course 35, who is from Anambra state which shares boundary with Delta state where the CDS hailed from.
The COAS was born on January 5, 1966 in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
He started his cadet training at the NDA on September 27, 1985 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on September 22, 1990.
Notable among the appointments held by the new COAS is Garrison Commander Headquarters Guards Brigade, Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Deputy Director Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary, Deputy Director Army Research and Development and the Chief of Staff, Headquarters Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield.
