President Bola Tinubu has nominated the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, as Nigeria’s new Minister of Defence.
In a letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu presented Musa as the replacement for Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned on Monday.
General Musa, 58, served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 to October 2025. A recipient of the Colin Powell Award for Soldiering (2012), he was born in Sokoto in 1967 and completed his early education there before attending the College of Advanced Studies, Zaria. He joined the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1986 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1991, the same year he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.
Musa has held several key military positions, including:
General Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations, HQ 81 Division
Commanding Officer, 73 Battalion
Assistant Director, Operational Requirements, Department of Army Policy and Plans
Infantry Representative/Member, Training Team, HQ Nigerian Army Armour Corps
He also served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations, Infantry Centre and Corps; Commander, Sector 3, Operation Lafiya Dole; and Commander, Sector 3, Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region.
In 2021, he became Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai and later Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps before his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff in 2023.
