Yesterday,
the Nigerian Army removed the Theatre Commander of the Operation
Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim, and appointed a new Major
General to head the military anti-insurgency operation in the
North-East.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, confirmed
the development saying that Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas has been named as
his replacement.
Usman said, “It is true that a new commander has been appointed for Operation Lafiya Dole. I can confirm the appointment.”
Until his new appointment, Nicholas was the Chief of Logistics at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.
Ibrahim took over from Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, who is now the
Commander of the Multi-National Joint Task Force in May 2017. Among the
perceived shortcomings of the outgoing commander was his inability to
capture the Boko Haram terrorists’ leader, Abubakar Shekau.
It was reported in August 2017 that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen
Tukur Buratai, issued a 40-day ultimatum to the Operation Lafiya Dole
Theatre Command to capture Shekau, but that had not been done since the
deadline expired in September. It was learnt that Ibrahim has been
redeployed to the army headquarters, Abuja.