A claim has circulated online that no Igbo was among Nigeria’s Service Chiefs newly appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
On Monday, June 19, 2023, Tinubu approved the immediate retirement of all service chiefs and appointed new ones to replace them.
Willie Bassey, the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in a statement noted that Major General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja is now appointed the Army Chief of Staff, while Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla takes over as the new Chief of Naval Staff.
It added that Major General C. G. Musa is the new Chief of Defence Staff, while Air Vice Marshal H. B. Abubakar gets the Chief of Air Staff position.
Kayode Egbetokun, a deputy inspector-general, is now the Acting Inspector-General of Police, while Major General EPA Undiandeye becomes the new Chief of Defence Intelligence, among others appointed.
Following this development, a Twitter account @Waspapping_ tweeted the claim archived here with a caption that read:
”There’s not a single Igbo person in the newly appointed officers by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The Igbos had the chance to align and support Atiku Abubakar’s bid for presidency but they refused
You’re now seeing the results of that decision
Congratulations to all involved.”
The post has generated over 1,500 likes, 207 retweets, and more than 140,000 views as of the time of this report.
Similarly, another Twitter account @RealCNsuccess tweeted the same claim with another caption thus:
”No Igbo man made it to Tinubu’s list of service chiefs. It sign is crystal clear, Igbos are no longer needed in the zoo.”
The post has also generated 453 likes, 318 retweets, and 42,000 views as of Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
A Facebook user, Sunny Igboanugo, also posted a similar claim with a caption thus:
”Close to 100 appointments, not a single Igbo. All hail Jagaban! I’m sipping my zobo!- The tiny voice!”
The claim was also found here and here.
CLAIM
No Igbo man among the newly appointed Service Chiefs in Nigeria.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
On Monday, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla was appointed the new Chief of Naval Staff (CNS).
ChannelsTV reports that Ogalla hails from Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
He is another Chief of Naval Staff of Igbo extraction after the 12th CNS, Rear Admiral Allison Amaechina Madueke, who also hails from Enugu State. Madueke served in that capacity from November 1993 to August 1994.
Enugu State is one of the five states that made up the South East geo-political zone of Nigeria.
According to Britannica Encyclopedia, it is bounded by the states of Kogi and Benue to the north, Ebonyi to the east, Abia to the south, and Anambra to the west.
THE VERDICT
The claim that no Igbo man is among Nigeria’s newly appointed Service Chiefs is FALSE; findings revealed that E.I. Ogalla is of Igbo extraction from South Eastern Nigeria.
