Major-General Farouk Yahaya has been declared the new Chief of Army Staff by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, military spokesperson, in a statement signed and released on Thursday. “Prior to his appointment Major-General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counterterrorism, Counter-Insurgency military outfit in the North East code-named Operation HADIN KAI,” the statement said.

His appointment comes just days after the death of the previous army chief, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru, in a Kaduna air crash.