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1PRESIDENT TINUBU APPROVES EXPANSION OF NIGERIAN ARMY TO 12 DIVISIONS, RECRUITMENT OF 28,000 PERSONNEL TO STRENGTHEN NAT...
23/07/2026

1PRESIDENT TINUBU APPROVES EXPANSION OF NIGERIAN ARMY TO 12 DIVISIONS, RECRUITMENT OF 28,000 PERSONNEL TO STRENGTHEN NATIONAL SECURITY

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has approved the expansion of the Nigerian Army’s structure from eight to twelve divisions—a landmark move to enhance the country’s security architecture and improve the operational effectiveness of the Nigerian Army.

This approval underscores the President’s unwavering commitment to equipping the Armed Forces to address Nigeria’s evolving security challenges effectively and to strengthen national defence capabilities further.

The expansion builds on the Administration’s sustained investments in the Armed Forces, including approval for the recruitment of 28,000 additional personnel, acquisition of critical military platforms and equipment, improvements in troop welfare, and ongoing support for operational readiness and force modernisation.

Under the new structure, the Nigerian Army will operate twelve divisions, strategically positioned across the country as follows:

1. 1 Division Headquarters – Kaduna (Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States)
2. 2 Division Headquarters – Ibadan (Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States)
3. 3 Division Headquarters – Jos (Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe States)
4. 5 Division Headquarters – Makurdi (Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi States)
5. 6 Division Headquarters – Port Harcourt (Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States)
6. 7 Division Headquarters – Maiduguri (Borno and Yobe States)
7. 8 Division Headquarters – Sokoto (Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States)
8. 9 Division Headquarters – Ilorin (Kwara and Niger States)
9. 10 Division Headquarters – Jalingo (Taraba and Adamawa States)
10. 81 Division Headquarters – Lagos (Lagos and Ogun States)
11. 82 Division Headquarters – Enugu (Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo States)
12. 83 Division Headquarters – Benin City (Edo, Delta and Bayelsa States).

The establishment of the new Divisions in Makurdi, Ilorin, Jalingo and Benin City will significantly improve command and control, decentralise operational decision-making, strengthen border security, enhance the protection of critical national infrastructure, improve counter-insurgency and internal security operations, and ensure faster military response to emerging threats nationwide.

Implementation of the new force structure will be done in two phases. The first phase, covering the establishment of the 5, 9, and 10 Divisions and the reorganisation of existing formations, will be completed by September 2026. The second phase, involving the establishment of the 83 Division and further reorganisation, is expected to be completed by December 2026.

President Tinubu commended the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Ibrahim Shuaibu, and all officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army for their dedication, professionalism, and steadfast commitment to defending Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The President reaffirmed his Administration’s determination to continue investing in the Armed Forces, ensuring they remain adequately equipped, highly motivated, and fully capable of protecting the nation and guaranteeing the safety and security of all Nigerians.

Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
23 July 2026

AGUATA FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY 2027: WEIGHING THE FIELD, AND WHY CHIEF ANDY AZIKE LEADS IT By Godsplan Chibueze With party ...
23/07/2026

AGUATA FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY 2027: WEIGHING THE FIELD, AND WHY CHIEF ANDY AZIKE LEADS IT
By Godsplan Chibueze

With party primaries now concluded across Anambra State, the field for the 2027 race to represent Aguata Federal Constituency at the National Assembly has taken clear shape. It is, by most independent accounts, one of the most closely watched contests in the state — but a careful look at who is actually on the ballot, and what each candidate brings, shows a field that is far more uneven than the noise around it suggests.

APGA - A Ticket Won Amid Controversy

The All Progressives Grand Alliance, leaning on its incumbency advantage in Anambra, has fielded Chibueze Ofobuike, the sitting Chairman of Aguata Local Government Area, as its flagbearer — defeating the incumbent lawmaker, Dominic Okafor, in a primary that exposed real cracks within the party locally.

The primary itself was not a clean affair. Reports from the exercise described disorderly conduct at polling points, with one rival aspirant, Hon. Afamefuna Ezenwafor, publicly protesting the process after supporters were reportedly disrupted while queuing, and other APGA aspirants elsewhere in Anambra formally withdrawing in protest over alleged interference by the party's national leadership.

For a party asking Aguata voters to trust it with representation, a primary remembered for disorder rather than democratic contest is not a strong foundation.

Ofobuike himself arrives with a mixed public record. He fields achievements such as education initiatives such as the Aguata Best Students Challenge, road and infrastructure projects, and youth welfare programmes. But his tenure has also drawn public scrutiny: local commentators have accused him of manoeuvring to unsettle a long-standing zoning arrangement between Aguata North and South to smooth his own path to the House of Representatives, and separate public allegations — still unresolved — have raised questions about financial accountability at the council level relative to the scale of public funds it receives.

A local commentary piece also called out his campaign for repeatedly suggesting a gubernatorial endorsement that state officials never confirmed. Whatever one makes of individual allegations, the pattern is one of a candidacy trailed by process and accountability questions rather than one built on unambiguous public trust.

PDP AND APC: Presence Without Real Traction

Neither the Peoples Democratic Party nor the All Progressives Congress has fielded a candidate in Aguata capable of shifting the outcome. Political analysts covering the Anambra terrain this cycle have been blunt about it: APC's local structures in the state have been described as largely cosmetic, and PDP has struggled with its own internal leadership disputes at the national level, a distraction that has visibly weakened its ability to mount serious, well-resourced campaigns in constituencies like Aguata. Both parties are expected to appear on the ballot; neither is expected to be competitive.

NDC: Chief Andy Azike, and a Campaign Built Differently

The Nigeria Democratic Congress emerged from its own primary season with Chief Andy Azike as its flagbearer for Aguata Federal Constituency — and unlike the APGA process, the NDC primary produced a result that has settled the party firmly behind him, including the endorsement of Mr. Peter Obi, whose political weight in Anambra and across the South-East remains formidable following his 2023 and 2027 presidential campaigns.

What distinguishes Chief Azike from the rest of the field is not simply the party label he now carries, but the record he brought into politics in the first place. Long before this campaign, he had already funded the construction of an Olympic-sized Lawn Tennis Court in Achina and co-founded the New Era Comprehensive Secondary School — investments made from personal resources, not public allocations, at a time when he held no public office and had nothing to gain from them politically. That is a meaningfully different foundation from candidates whose visibility rests on projects executed with government funds while in office.

His professional background reinforces the point. A Chartered Accountant since 1987 with fellowships across Nigeria's and the UK's leading accountancy and insurance institutes, Azike spent his career in regulated financial institutions — rising to Managing Director/CEO of Coral International Insurance Ltd and later General Manager of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, where he led the underwriting of the Shell Bonga FPSO, the largest single insurance asset on the African continent, into the UK market for three years running.

That is a career built on audit discipline, fiduciary responsibility, and accountability to regulators and shareholders — precisely the instincts Aguata needs from whoever next handles its public trust at the federal level.

The Balance of the Field

Set side by side, the choice facing Ndị Aguata is not simply a contest between party colours. It is a contest between a ticket won through a primary marked by disorder and a candidate whose record while in public office is still under public question, against a ticket that emerged cleanly, carries the backing of one of the South-East's most influential political figures, and is led by a man whose community investment and professional credibility were established long before he ever sought a vote.

On process, on record, and on the personal credibility of the man asking for Aguata's mandate, Chief Andy Azike currently stands as the strongest candidate in the field and the one best placed to give Aguata the kind of accountable, outcome-driven representation the constituency has been asking for.

Godsplan Chibueze writes on leadership, development, business, and contemporary issues, bringing a practical and forward-looking perspective to conversations that shape society.

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