President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.

This was contained in a statement by the acting Director of Defence Information, Onyema Nwachukwu.

Maj Gen. Yahaya replaces Ibrahim Attahiru, a lieutenant general, who died in an air crash alongside 10 other officers last week.

Until his appointment, the new army chief was the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, the counter insurgency operation in the North-east.