by Chinedu Asadu
ABUJA, Nigeria— Nigeria’s army chief who led soldiers through a critical period in the fight against Islamic extremists in the West African nation’s hard-hit northeast has died, President Bola Tinubu said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, who served as army chief since June 2023, died Tuesday night in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos after a “period of illness,” Tinubu said in a statement issued by his office without elaborating further. Lagbaja was 56.
The late army chief had not been seen in public in nearly two months, fueling rumors that he had died, which the Nigerian army first denied more than two weeks ago. He has already been replaced by Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, whom Tinubu appointed in an acting capacity a week ago.
His death comes at a crucial time as Nigeria continues fighting one of Africa’s longest wars on militancy in its northeastern region, where Boko Haram extremists launched an insurgency nearly 15 years ago.
Lagbaja is the second Nigerian army chief to die in office in less than four years. Ibrahim Attahiru served as army chief for only four months before he died in a military air crash in 2021.
