Senate confirms new Service Chiefs
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the newly-appointed service chiefs.
The confirmation was done during plenary which was a sequel to the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate joint Committees on Defence, Army and Navy which screened the nominees.
The service chiefs confirmed are Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, Chief of Army Staff and Ibrahim Attahiru, both major generals.
Others are Chief of Naval Staff, Awwal Gambo, a rear admiral and Chief Air Staff, Oladayo Amao, an air vice marshal.
Aliyu Wamakko (APC, Sokoto North), who presented the report, told the Senate that their nomination was in accordance with Section 18(1) of the Armed Forces Act. Cap A20 Laws the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
He said no petition was submitted against the nominees and that they were cleared by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The lawmaker added that the new service chiefs possess the requisite experience for the roles, saying they were articulate in thier response and displayed in-depth knowledge on security matters.
He thereafter recommended that the Senate confirm the nominees, an act which was done in the Committee of the Whole.
The new service chiefs will replace the former set of service chiefs – Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar – all of whom have been appointed as non-career ambassadors.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the new service chiefs made promises to tackle insecurity in the country. This was during their screening exercise barely a week ago.
They were appointed in February, about week after the former service chiefs resigned.
In his remarks, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, noted that the nomination of the new service chiefs came after many calls for the replacement of the former service chiefs. This is even as he commended the former service chiefs for their services.
He urged the new set to ensure all hands on deck to tackle insecurity and stressed the need for inter-agency cooperation in the security sector.(Premium Times)
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