key points
- President Tinubu has named former military chief of staff Christopher Musa as the new Defense Minister
- Musa was dismissed from the post of Chief of Defense Staff in October
- He replaces Mohammed Badru Abubakar, who resigned as Defense Minister on Monday
- The change in leadership comes as Nigeria faces a new wave of mass kidnappings
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has named the country’s former top general, whom he ousted in October, as the new defense minister.
Christopher Moses will require confirmation by the Senate to assume office.
Tinubu has written to the Senate expressing “confidence in General Musa’s ability to lead the Ministry of Defense and further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture”, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
Why did the previous Defense Minister Badru leave the post?
Musa will replace Mohammed Badru Abubakar, who resigned as Defense Minister on Monday citing health reasons.
Before his sudden resignation, Badaru was strongly criticized for the government’s failure to deal with the rise in mass kidnappings and Islamist attacks in the West African country.
The call for Badaru’s exit became stronger when he said during a recent interview with the BBC’s Hausa Service that some militants could not be attacked because their jungle hideouts were too dense for bombs to reach.
What do we know about General Christopher Moses?
Musa led the army as Chief of Defense Staff from 2023 until the end of October 2025, when Tinubu dismissed Musa along with many of the country’s top military officers.
At the time, the media reported that a coup had been attempted, although Tinubu’s government denied these reports.
There was no immediate explanation as to why Moses was returning.
According to the presidential statement, Musa, a career soldier, joined the Defense Department in 1991 after studying at the country’s Defense Academy.
The 58-year-old has regional experience in fighting terrorism. He led operations against the Boko Haram Islamic group in northeastern Nigeria from 2021 to 2022. Previously, he was a sector commander in the multinational joint task force fighting Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the Lake Chad region.
A new wave of kidnapping has started in Nigeria
Nigeria has been struggling to stop mass kidnappings for more than a decade.
But the past months have seen a surge in armed criminal “bandit” gangs kidnapping people for ransom. Bandits often target schools and places of worship because of their insecurity.
In the largest recent attack, armed men captured 315 children and staff at St. Mary’s Boarding School in north-central Nigeria in late November.
Fifty people survived the attack, but the rest, mostly children, remained in the hands of the bandits.
At least 490 people have been kidnapped in several states in the past two weeks, according to Nigeria punch Newspaper.
Along with schoolchildren and teachers, those abducted also include church worshipers and priests, a bride and her friends, and farmers.
How bad is Nigeria’s security emergency?
Nigeria faces many security threats. There has been a long-running extremist insurgency in the north, where Boko Haram and other Islamic splinter groups commit widespread atrocities. In the north-central region of the country, farmers and herders regularly clash over dwindling land and water resources.
Additionally, the northwest and north-central regions are seeing increasing violence by bandit gangs, including rape of women and girls, kidnapping for ransom, and cattle smuggling.
At least 11 states, including Kebbi, Katsina, Plateau and Yobe states, have partially or completely closed their schools due to security concerns, while the federal government has also closed 47 of its “unity” schools in the North.
According to Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, at least 2,266 people were killed by bandits or insurgents during the first half of 2025 alone.
Worsening armed violence led President Tinubu to declare a nationwide security emergency last week.
He also ordered the recruitment of 50,000 police officers and more army recruitment.
America is also putting pressure on Nigeria regarding the safety of Christians
Separately, Nigeria is facing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has claimed that Christians are being persecuted in the country.
Last month, Trump also threatened military action and sanctions over the treatment of Christians in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government and independent security analysts have repeatedly rejected Trump’s claims, and have said that the country’s conflict disproportionately affects victims along religious lines.
Edited by: Zack Crellin