Whilst noting that the swift appointment of General Christopher Gwobin Musa as minister of defence barely 24 hours after his predecessor reportedly threw in the towel, has been described as noteworthy, merit-based by the nation’s frontline pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA), the new cabinet level minister has been tasked to hit the ground running as there is no more time to waist given the heightened state of insecurity in the Country.
HURIWA in a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko said General Musa’s success or failure in his cabinet level office would largely depend on the leadership demonstrated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who constitutionally is the man in charge of the defence sector as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of Nigeria. The overall responsibility falls on the executive and elaborately powerful office of the President.
The Rights group said the President must give the defence minister the free hand to implement a holistic approach and strategic blueprint towards restructuring the national defence architecture of the Country just as HURIWA advocated a swift screening and approval of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff to assume office as the minister of Defence going by the existential fact that General Musa’s appointment which is the sole prerogative of Mr. President is considered as meritorious and significant.
“If you look at the constitution of Nigeria, you would note that the president is obliged to pick good citizens who would assist him in running the different federal ministries as cabinet level ministers. Whereby the president chooses not to permit the minister to operate freely, there is nothing anyone can do about that or if Mr. President chooses dullards as his ministers like most of the current ministers are, the president shouldn’t expect a miracle.
“The president has chosen someone with vast security and defence experiences as his new minister of Defence and hopefully, the pliant Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would naturally approve the appointment which ironically is enjoying a wave of popular validity in the public social media spaces. Nigerians expect that the new Minister of Defence should roll out his sleeves, buckle up, then introduce and implement a quick-win security blueprint to defeat terrorists in the country. General Musa should work qualitatively as minister of Defence for the sake of the majority of young Nigerians who approve of his current appointment by President Tinubu. General Musa, do not disappoint Nigerians like Badaru your ineffective predecessor.
HURIWA recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated General Christopher Gwabin Musa as the new Minister of Defence.
In a letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu conveyed General Musa’s nomination as the successor to Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who resigned on Monday.
General Musa, 58, on December 25, is a distinguished soldier who served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. He won the Colin Powell Award for Soldiering in 2012.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, General Musa received his primary and secondary education there before attending the College of Advanced Studies in Zaria. He graduated in 1986 and enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy the same year, earning a Bachelor of Science degree upon graduation in 1991.
General Musa was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1991 and has since had a distinguished career. His appointments include General Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations at HQ 81 Division; Commanding Officer, 73 Battalion; Assistant Director, Operational Requirements, Department of Army Policy and Plans; and Infantry Representative/Member, Training Team, HQ Nigerian Army Armour Corps.
In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations, Headquarters 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, General Musa was appointed Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai. He later became Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps before being appointed Chief of Defence Staff by President Tinubu in 2023.
In the letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed confidence in General Musa’s ability to lead the Ministry of Defence and further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture.
HURIWA however is tasking president Tinubu to convince Nigerians that he is predisposed to wage relentless war on terror by unveiling the names of sponsors of terrorism not motivated by partisan consideration and backed up by adequate body of evidence to enable the central government to prosecute and successfully convict these enemies of Nigeria in the competent court of law and possibly get the sponsors of terrorism and the terrorists unleashing bloodcuddling violence on Nigerians. “HURIWA is appalled that this Tinubu’s administration has spent almost 3 years of its four tenure but has refused to prosecute sponsors of terrorism”.
