Lieutenant general (Nigeria)

Lieutenant general
Flag of a lieutenant general
Rank insignia of a lieutenant general
Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru official portrait showing his lieutenant general insignia
Country	Nigeria
Service branch	Nigerian Army
Abbreviation	Lt-Gen
Rank	Three-star rank
NATO rank code	OF-8
Non-NATO rank	O-8
Next higher rank	General
Next lower rank	Major-general
Equivalent ranks	Vice-admiral (Nigerian Navy) Air marshal (Nigerian Air Force)

Lieutenant general (Lt Gen), is the second-highest rank of the Nigerian Army and generally it is the highest active rank as the Nigerian army do not have any appointment in the rank of full general but in the case of the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, the rank of full general is given (if the chief is appointed from the army and not from the navy or the air force). It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank.

The rank of lieutenant general is usually held by the Chief of Army Staff.

Lieutenant general is a superior rank to major general, but subordinate to a (full) general. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-8, equivalent to a vice-admiral in the Nigerian Navy and an air marshal in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries.

The rank insignia is an eagle and a six-pointed star over a crossed sabre and baton.

Usage

Ordinarily, the lieutenant general rank is usually held by only the Chief of Army Staff which implies there is usually only one serving lieutenant general in the Army at a time but there have been some occasions where there were more than one lieutenant-general in the Army like the case of Lt-Gen Jeremiah Useni, who was the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister under General Sani Abacha, while, Lt-Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi was the Chief of Army Staff. Also, there was the case of Lt-Gen Abel Akale, who was the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, at the time Lt-Gen Martin Luther Agwai was the Chief of Army Staff. Maj-Gen Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor was also promoted to Lt-Gen and made Commander of United Nations (UN) Peace Keeping Operations while Lt-Gen Agwai was still Army Chief in December 2005. ^{[1] [2]} The most recent case was that of the promotion of Maj-Gen Lamidi Adeosun to the rank of lieutenant general in July 2019 while Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai was still Army Chief. ^[3]

During the military rule, the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and the Chief of General Staff (titles accorded to the deputy head of state and de facto vice president under different regimes) usually held a three-star rank like in the cases of Lt-Gens Olusegun Obasanjo and Oladipo Diya, both of whom never served as the Chief of Army Staff.

List of Nigerian Army Lieutenant generals

Since 1960, 34 officers have attained this rank.^{[ citation needed ]} Among them, one officer, (Olusegun Obasanjo) attained this rank while he was Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters (de facto vice president), another officer, (Oladipo Diya) attained this rank before becoming Chief of General Staff (de facto vice president), 21 served as the Chief of Army Staff, 5 of them (Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, Gibson Sanda Jalo, Domkat Yah Bali, Sani Abacha and Oladipo Diya) served as Chief of Defence Staff while holding this rank, Bali and Abacha were later promoted to the rank of full General. 6 of them (Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, Gibson Sanda Jalo, Sani Abacha, Alexander Ogomudia, Martin Luther Agwai and Owoye Andrew Azazi) served in both positions.

No	Promoted	Name	Born	Died
1	January 1976	Olusegun Obasanjo	1937
2	January 1976	Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma	1938
3	1979	Ipoola Alani Akinrinade	1939
4	1980	Gibson Jalo	1939	2000
5	1981	Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi	1940	2021
6	1987	Domkat Yah Bali	1940	2020
7	1987	Sani Abacha	1943	1998
8	1992	Garba Duba	1942	2024
9	1992	Salihu Ibrahim	1935	2018
10	1992	Gado Nasko	1941
11	1992	Jeremiah Timbut Useni	1943
12	1992	Mohammed Balarabe Haladu	1944	1998
13	1992	Oladipo Diya	1944	2023
14	1992	Joshua Dogonyaro	1940	2021
15	1992	Aliyu Mohammed Gusau	1943
16	1995	Rufus Kupolati	1946
17	1996	Ishaya Bamaiyi	1949
18	1999	Victor Malu	1947	2017
19	2001	Alexander Ogomudia	1949
20	2003	Martin Luther Agwai	1948
21	2004	Abel Akale	–	–
22	2005	Joseph Owonibi	1949
23	2005	Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor	1951
24	2006	Owoye Andrew Azazi	1952	2012
25	2007	Luka Yusuf	1952	2009
26	2008	Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau	1954
27	October 2010	Azubuike Ihejirika	1956
28	February 2014	Kenneth Minimah	1959
29	13 August 2015	Tukur Yusuf Buratai	1960
30	9 July 2019 [4]	Lamidi Adeosun	1963
31	5 March 2021 [5]	Ibrahim Attahiru	1966	2021
32	7 July 2021 [6]	Faruk Yahaya	1966
33	31 July 2023	Taoreed Lagbaja	1968	2024
34	5 November 2024	Olufemi Oluyede	1968

See also

• Nigeria portal

• General (Nigeria)
• Military ranks of Nigeria
• List of Nigerian Army full generals

References

1. "'Only President can change Service Chiefs'". The Nation Newspaper. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
2. "Buhari Promotes Adeosun To Same Rank With Buratai". Daily Trust. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
3. "Buhari promotes Lamidi Adeosun to Lt Gen — same rank with Buratai". TheCable. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
4. "Buhari promotes Lamidi Adeosun to Lt Gen — same rank with Buratai". TheCable. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
5. "Irabor becomes four-star general as Buhari promotes service chiefs". TheCable. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
6. "PHOTOS: Buhari promotes Faruk Yahaya to three-star general". TheCable. Retrieved 7 July 2021.