Insurgency: Army Appoints New Commander

The Defence Headquarters has announced the appointment of a new Theatre Commander apparently to reposition Operation Lafiya Dole for more efficiency, effectiveness and combat readiness in its bid to carry out its assignment of pulling down the remnant of terrorists. The new Theatre Commander as announced by Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, the military’s Director of Defence Information, is Major General Hassan Umoru. Before his appointment, Umoru served as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Division, Nigerian Army. He took over from Major General Yusha’u Mahmood Abubakar who was appointed four months ago. No reason was given for this development. The army also appointed Major General Lucky Irabor as Deputy Theatre Commander. Abubakar said, “The changes are part of the reorganisation by the Defence Headquarters in line with the force restructuring of its operations to attain the overall objectives of the Chief of Defence Staff. He added that “The aim of this new development is to restrategise and inject new tactics to the existing operational procedures with the aim of finally knocking out the terrorists who now devised means of hitting soft targets through suicide bombings and isolated attacks on remote villages. “Operation Lafiya Dole will continue to be responsive until all elements of terrorists are finally crushed.”