Following the recent promotion of senior officers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and retirement of some others, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has authorised the appointment of 72 senior officers.

They comprise 27 air vice marshals (AVMs), 30 air commodores (Air Cdres), eight group captains (Gp Capts), four wing commanders (Wg Cdrs) and three squadron leaders (Sqn Ldrs).

According to a statement yesterday, prominent among those affected are AVM Emmanuel Anebi, who is now the Chief of Policy and Plans Headquarters NAF HQ, and AVM Nurudeen Balogun, who has been appointed as the Chief of Defence Policy and Plans at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

In addition, AVM Charles Otegbade has been appointed as the secretary, National Defence College (NDC), while AVM Rufus Ojuawo takes over as the chairman, Air Expo and International Liaison Secretariat.

Other appointments include those of AVM Napoleon Bali as the new Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Special Operations Command, Yenagoa; AVM Oladayo Amao as the new Chief of Training and Operations at HQ NAF; AVM Abdulganiyu Olabisi as the new AOC Logistics Command, Ikeja; and AVM John Baba as the new AOC Tactical Air Command.

Likewise, AVM Mahmoud Ahmed has been redeployed as the Air Secretary, HQ NAF; AVM Remigus Ekeh appointed as the new Chief of Standards and Evaluation at HQ NAF, while AVM Ibukun Ojeyemi becomes the new Director of Policy at HQ NAF.

AVM Musibau Olatunji is now the Director of Air Engineering at HQ NAF, while AVM Peter Uzezi is the new AOC Mobility Command.

Also appointed are AVM Dahiru Sanda, who is now a Directing Staff at National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), AVM Ismaila Yahaya as the new Director of Training at HQ NAF, AVM Idi Lubo as Director of NAF Transformation at HQ NAF, AVM Mohammed Yakubu redeployed as the Chief of Logistics HQ NAF and AVM Emmanuel Wonah as the new Director of Sports at DHQ.

Similarly, AVM Paul Jemitola has been appointed as the new Director of Research and Development at HQ NAF, AVM Anderson Kassimu as Director Civil Military Relations at DHQ and AVM Ibrahim Ali as the new Deputy Commandant, Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna.

Meanwhile, AVM Musa Tanko is to take over as Director of Space Utilisation at DHQ, while AVM Musa Muktar has been redeployed as the new Chief of Aircraft Engineering at HQ NAF.

In addition, AVM Maxwell Nnaji has been appointed as the new Chief of Communication Information Systems at HQ NAF, AVM Emmanuel Chukwu as the new Director Earth Observation at Defence Space Administration, and AVM Aliyu Bello as the new Chief of Staff at HQ Special Operations Command, while AVM Olusegun Philip is to take over as the new Director of Evaluation at HQ NAF.

Also, Air Cdre Abraham Adole has been appointed as the Principal Air Staff Officer to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Cdre Ayodele Laoye as Director of Procurement and Gp Capt Jika Sanda as the Director of Legal Services HQ NAF.

The newly posted and redeployed senior officers are expected to take over their new offices not later than January 25, 2019.