President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa (rtd), as Nigeria’s new Minister of Defence.
The nomination was conveyed on Tuesday in a letter sent to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and follows the resignation of Mohammed Badaru Abubakar on Monday.
General Musa, who will turn 58 on December 25, served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. A highly decorated senior officer, he received the Colin Powell Award for Soldiering in 2012.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, Musa completed his primary and secondary education in the state before attending the College of Advanced Studies, Zaria. He later enrolled in the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1986 and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant the same year.
Over the course of his career, Gen. Musa held several key command and staff positions, including General Staff Officer 1 (Training/Operations) at Headquarters 81 Division; Commanding Officer, 73 Battalion; Assistant Director, Operational Requirements, in the Department of Army Policy and Plans; and Infantry Representative on the Training Team at the Nigerian Army Armour Corps.
In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff (Training/Operations) at the Infantry Centre and Corps Headquarters, Commander of Sector 3 of Operation Lafiya Dole, and later Commander of Sector 3 of the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region.
By 2021, he had been appointed Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, after which he became Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps. President Tinubu appointed him Chief of Defence Staff in 2023.
In his letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed confidence in Musa’s capacity to lead the Defence Ministry and strengthen Nigeria’s security framework.
The Senate is expected to screen and confirm the nomination in the coming days.
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