President Bola Tinubu has nominated General Christopher Gwabin Musa as the new Minister of Defence following the resignation of the immediate past minister, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar.
The nomination was conveyed in a letter sent to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and read during plenary on Tuesday. The President expressed confidence in Musa’s capacity to significantly strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture.
Musa, 58, served as the Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. He is a highly decorated officer and a recipient of the prestigious Colin Powell Award for Soldiering in 2012.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, the nominee had his primary and secondary education in the state before attending the College of Advanced Studies in Zaria. He graduated in 1986 and proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy the same year, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1991. He was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant the same year.
Throughout his military career, Musa held several key appointments including General Staff Officer Training and Operations at Headquarters 81 Division, Commanding Officer 73 Battalion, Assistant Director of Operational Requirements at Army Headquarters and Infantry Representative at the Nigerian Army Armour Corps.
In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff Training and Operations at the Infantry Centre and Corps and later as Commander of Sector 3 of Operation Lafiya Dole and the 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.
If confirmed by the Senate, Musa is expected to bring vast operational experience to the Ministry of Defence at a time of heightened security challenges across the country.
