Buhari decorates army chief Farouk Yahaya with new rank

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday decorated the new chief of army staff Farouk Yahaya with a new rank of lieutenant general.

Yahaya took over from the late Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru who died in a military plane crash along with 10 military officers in Kaduna on May 21.

An indigene of Sokoto, Yahaya had served as the theatre commander of Operation Hadin Kai, a counter-insurgency operation in the north-east before his appointment as army chief.

The decoration was witnessed by members of the Federal Executive Council, security chiefs including chief of defence staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, chief of air staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao and chief of defence intelligence (CDI), Maj. Gen. Sunday Adebayo.

Others present were the director-general, Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi; and the inspector general of police (IGP), Usman Baba.