Senate confirms appointment of new service chiefs
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of the newly nominated service chiefs.
The confirmed appointees are: Chief of Defence Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, a lieutenant general; Chief of Army Staff, Waidi Shaibu, a major general; Chief of Air Staff, Sunday Aneke, an air vice marshal; and the Chief of Naval Staff, Idi Abbas, a rear admiral.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the confirmation after lawmakers cleared the nominees through a voice vote at the Committee of the Whole.
The confirmation followed a closed-door screening session that lasted for about one hour.
Before the session went behind closed doors, each nominee appeared before the lawmakers to discuss non-sensitive security issues, including their past achievements and plans to tackle insecurity across the country.
Upon resumption of open proceedings, Mr Akpabio disclosed that the senators had engaged the service chiefs extensively on Nigeria’s security challenges.
He then put the confirmation to a voice vote and the voted unanimously in support.
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After the confirmation, the Senate president congratulated the newly confirmed service chiefs and commended President Bola Tinubu for their appointments.
He expressed confidence that the new military leadership would strengthen national security.
“We believe that this will renew the hope of Nigerians in respect of security issues,” Mr Akpabio said.