ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, who led soldiers through a critical period in the fight against Islamic extremists in the West African country’s hard-hit northeast, has died after an illness, says President Bola. Tinubu said on Wednesday. Lagbaja was 56.
Lagbaja, who served as army chief since June 2023, died on Tuesday evening after a “period of illness” in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, Tinubu said in a statement from his office.
The late army chief had not been seen in public for almost two months, fueling rumors that he had died, which the Nigerian military first denied over two weeks ago.
He has already been replaced by Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, who appointed Tinubu as acting officer a week ago.
Lagbaja’s death comes at a crucial time as Nigeria continues to wage one of Africa’s longest wars against militancy in the northeastern region, where Boko Haram extremists launched an insurgency nearly 15 years ago.
The country’s military, long underfunded and under-armed, has fought to slow the extremists’ expansion in the region and beyond.
Although the frequency of violent attacks in the region has decreased over the years, analysts say the extremists have tried to recruit more fighters and consolidate their strongholds in the Lake Chad basin.
Lagbaja had vowed to enshrine discipline and professionalism in the Nigerian military as one of his key priorities, in a bid to rebrand an institution often blamed for mistreatment of civilians and extrajudicial killings in conflict zones.
