President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated General Christopher Gwabin Musa as the new Minister of Defense.
The President formally communicated the nomination to Senate Speaker Godswill Akpabio following the resignation of former Defense Minister Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar on Monday.
General Musa, who will turn 58 on December 25, served as Chief of the Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. A highly decorated officer, he received the prestigious Colin Powell Award for Military Service in 2012.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, General Musa completed his primary and secondary education in the state before attending the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria School of Advanced Studies. He subsequently enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1986 and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1991, General Musa has held several key positions in the Nigerian Army. These include Staff Officer 1, Training/Operations at the 81st Division Headquarters; Commanding Officer of the 73rd Battalion; Deputy Director of Operational Requirements at the Army Policy and Plans Department; and Infantry Representative on the Nigerian Army Armored Corps Training Team.
In 2019, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Training/Operations at the Infantry Corps and later as Sector 3 Commander for Operation Lafiya Dole and the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region.
In 2021, he became Theater of Operations Commander for Operation Hadin Kai, subsequently rising to Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps. President Tinubu appointed him Chief of the Defence Staff in 2023, a position he held until 2025.
In his letter to the Senate, President Tinubu expressed his confidence in General Musa’s ability to lead the Ministry of Defence and strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture.
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