Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa (retd.), on Monday paid an unscheduled visit to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at a time of heightened national anxiety over rising insecurity. The visit, which took place at 7:03 p.m., marks Musa’s first public engagement with the President since his retirement on October 24, 2025.
Dressed in a dark-green northern-style traditional outfit, the retired military chief was escorted into the President’s office wing by a senior security official. Although the purpose of the meeting was not immediately known, it comes on the heels of Tinubu’s recent declaration of a nationwide security emergency.
As part of the new measures, the President approved the recruitment of 20,000 additional police personnel, the deployment of forest guards, and increased protection for schools and worship centres in high-risk areas. Security and intelligence agencies have also been directed to intensify coordinated operations across the North-West and North-Central, where violent attacks have surged.
Recent incidents include the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi, the kidnapping of 38 worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State, and the mass abduction of more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger State. In a 13-day span, bandits abducted monarchs, worshippers, students, a bride, and travellers, taking at least 490 people captive.
Musa, a member of the 38th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, was appointed CDS by President Tinubu in June 2023 and served until Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede replaced him during the October military reshuffle.
Meanwhile, another former CDS, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), has firmly refuted insinuations that repentant Boko Haram members are being recruited into the armed forces. Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Irabor described the claim as baseless and impossible within the military’s strict recruitment framework.
“It has always been a burden for me where we got this impression from. How can they be recruited? This does not exist,” he said.
Citing his extensive command experience — from Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole to Force Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, and later CDS — Irabor argued that such allegations defy both procedure and logic.
He stressed that no individual can join the military without clearance from their local government, making it impossible for former terrorists to infiltrate the system.
He further explained that Operation Safe Corridor, the Federal Government’s deradicalisation programme for low-risk ex-Boko Haram fighters, does not handle military recruitment and does not reinstate former insurgents into the armed forces.
While acknowledging ongoing challenges in the fight against insecurity, Irabor said attributing the nation’s security lapses to military failure is unfair, emphasising the need for more personnel, better equipment, and deeper understanding of emerging threats.
The government continues to push its deradicalisation and reintegration efforts through Operation Safe Corridor for ex-combatants who choose to surrender voluntarily.
