Nigeria replaces top security officials days after coup plot denial

As the West African nation struggles with continued violence in the conflict-stricken north and numerous security issues, Nigeria’s president has replaced top security officials.

The government has denied rumors of a coup plot in response to local media reports that more than a dozen military officers were detained in September, including a brigadier general and a colonel.

In a quick statement, President Bola Tinubu said, “I have approved changes to the hierarchy of our armed forces to further strengthen Nigeria’s national security architecture.

Three top security officials were fired on Friday by Tinubu, according to a presidential spokesperson: Christopher Musa, the head of the military, Emmanuel Ogalla, the head of naval staff, and Hassan Abubakar, the head of air staff.

Olufemi Oluyede, the former head of the army, was chosen as Tinubu’s new head of defense staff.

The army, air force, and naval staff members were chosen by Shaibu, I Abbas, and SK Aneke.

According to spokesperson Sunday Dare, the president has given them the task of improving “the professionalism, vigilance, and comradeship that define the armed forces of Nigeria.”

Local media and some analysts are unsure about the coup plot, despite the military’s defense on Saturday.

According to Confidence MacHarry, a security analyst at the Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence, “the military leadership reshuffle is a very normal and regular procedure in Nigeria.”

He claimed that the “military has failed to convincingly refute” the alleged coup plot at the same time.

According to him, “This shake-up could thus be a means of punishing coup plotters” who reportedly complained about career stagnation or as a punishment for the military’s failure to improve security.”

Protection should be prioritized.

The changes come as protests in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, erupted this week. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra separatist group that wants to become independent of Nigeria’s southeast region, was arrested by police and held by tear gas-torn demonstrators in the streets.

The country is home to a wide range of armed organizations.

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s self-styled armed group, experienced a significant resurgence in the north this year. In 2009, the organization seized control of the radical Islamic law that had been imposed by Western education.

Additionally, bandits, or criminal organizations that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and looting, are in high demand.

Armed group fighters have repeatedly attacked military installations, mined roads with bombs, and raided civilian neighborhoods in recent months, igniting fears that they might have reached their worst level since a decade ago.

To aid Nigeria’s fight against insurgency and criminal groups, the US government earlier this year approved the sale of $ 346 million in weapons.

Meanwhile, there has been a military takeover of Mali, Burkinabe, and Niger, which analysts predict will continue throughout West Africa.

According to Senator Iroegbu, an Abuja security analyst, “some of us saw these changes coming,” he told The Associated Press.