Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa (retd.), on Monday visited President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, even as another ex-CDS, Gen. Lucky Irabor (Retd.), dismissed claims that repentant Boko Haram members are being recruited into the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Musa arrived the State House at 7:03 p.m., dressed in dark-green northern-style traditional attire with elbow-length sleeves, and was led into the President’s office wing by a senior security official.
It was his first public meeting with the President since his retirement on October 24, 2025.
The PUNCH could not immediately confirm the purpose of the visit.
His appearance at the Villa comes amid heightened national security concerns following President Tinubu’s declaration of a nationwide security emergency.
The measures announced include the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers, deployment of forest guards, and enhanced protection for schools, churches and mosques in vulnerable areas.
Security and intelligence agencies have also been directed to intensify joint operations across hotspots in the North-West and North-Central.
Recent flashpoints include the abduction of 25 schoolgirls from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi; the kidnapping of 38 worshippers in Eruku, Kwara; and the mass abduction of over 300 students and teachers at a Catholic school in Niger State.
In a 13-day wave of coordinated attacks across the North, bandits abducted monarchs, worshippers, a bride, students and travellers, taking at least 490 captives.
Musa, a member of the 38th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, was appointed CDS by Tinubu in June 2023 and confirmed by the Senate the following month. He served until the October 24 reshuffle that saw then Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, succeed him.
Meanwhile, former CDS, Irabor, has strongly denied suggestions that repentant Boko Haram members are being absorbed into the armed forces.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Irabor insisted that such recruitment was impossible within the military’s structure.
“It has always been a burden for me where we got this impression from. How can they be recruited? This does not exist,” Irabor said.
Drawing from his years in top command positions, Irabor said his career trajectory made the claims even more implausible.
He stated, “Before I became CDS, I was Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole. From there, I crossed over to become Force Commander, Multinational Aid on Taskforce. When I left, I became Chief of Defence Training and Operations, overseeing all that. And then I became Theatre Commander and later got appointed as CDS, a position I spent two and a half years in. How could it be? Where people got that impression, I cannot tell.”
He added that even the most basic recruitment procedures make it impossible for former terrorists to slip through.
“It is impossible. Besides, you can’t come into the military if those in your local government have not actually sanctioned you,” he said.
Irabor clarified that Operation Safe Corridor — the Federal Government’s deradicalisation and reintegration programme for low-risk ex-Boko Haram combatants — does not handle military recruitment and does not return ex-terrorists to armed service.
While acknowledging lapses in tackling insecurity nationwide, he rejected claims that ongoing challenges stem from failures by the military, stressing the need for more manpower, equipment and deeper understanding of evolving threats.
The government has in recent years intensified efforts to deradicalise and reintegrate former Boko Haram fighters through Operation Safe Corridor, which caters to ex-combatants who voluntarily surrender.
