President Buhari Appoints General Removed For Failing To Apprehend Shekau As Army Chief

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a former Theater Commander of operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, who was removed by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, for failing to stop Boko Haram in 2017 as the Chief of Army Staff, Punch reports.

BBC in 2017 reported that Buratai ordered Attahiru to capture Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive in 40 days.

Attahiru failed to accomplish the assignment and was removed without any posting.

However, officers that have taken up Attahiru’s position have also failed to capture Shekau till date.

In May 2017, Attahiru took over the theatre command from Major General Lucky Irabor who is now the Chief of Defence Staff.

However, suicide bombings and attacks on military formations increased drastically.

According to Punch, a month after he took over, Boko Haram attacked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in June.

The month after, a group of geologists and technologists from the University of Maiduguri were ambushed by Boko Haram insurgents at Magumeri area of Borno state.

About 12 soldiers who escorted the academics were reportedly killed.

Some members of staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation on the team were also killed in the brutal ambush.

Boko Haram, using four female suicide bombers, attacked Muna Gari, a suburb of Maiduguri, killing about 14 persons.

Naija News had earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed new service chiefs for the nation after he sacked the previous ones.

This was confirmed on Tuesday in a tweet from presidential media aide, Femi Adesina in which he also quoted the president as appreciating the outgone service chiefs for their performance.