President Bola Tinubu has reportedly halted the extraordinary promotion planned for his Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf, following significant intervention from senior retired military officers, including two former Chiefs of Army Staff.
The planned elevation of Yusuf to Brigadier-General was controversially scheduled for a quiet ceremony on Monday evening.
This proposed promotion was highly unusual, as it came barely one year after he was made a Colonel in December 2024.
The plan was reportedly shelved at the eleventh hour after grave concerns were raised regarding its negative implications for military discipline, seniority, and overall morale within the Nigerian Army.
Under established Nigerian Army procedures, the promotion to Brigadier-General is among the most rigorous stages of an officer’s career.
Standard protocol requires candidates to:
Spend a minimum of four years in the rank of Colonel.
*Complete mandatory senior military education, often at the National Defence College (NDC) or NIPSS, Kuru.
*Pass through rigorous promotion boards that assess their full service records, command experience, and discipline.
The reported plan to fast-track Yusuf’s promotion was widely viewed within military circles as a sharp and damaging departure from these long-standing norms.
Furthermore, sources from military circles noted that no Brigadier-General has ever served as ADC to a sitting Nigerian President, a factor that intensified unease within the Army hierarchy.
A leaked letter dated December 12, 2025, from the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), signed by Nuhu Ribadu, had confirmed the intention for Yusuf to continue serving as the President’s ADC despite the proposed elevation.
In the hours leading up to the planned ceremony, Defence Minister, retired Gen. Christopher Musa and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, were said to have cut short an official trip to Lagos and returned to Abuja.
Ultimately, however, it was the intervention of two widely respected former Army Chiefs that proved decisive, persuading the President to suspend the promotion.
A presidency source, however, confirmed that the elevation “would not happen anytime soon.”
The development coincided with a closed-door meeting President Tinubu held on Monday with Nigeria’s Service Chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, amid mounting internal and regional security concerns.
The meeting took place shortly after the President attended the public presentation of the book From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari at the State House Conference Centre.
It was Tinubu’s first formal engagement with the full military high command since the swearing-in of General Musa as Minister of Defence on December 4, a move seen as an early signal of efforts to realign defence and security strategy under new leadership at the Ministry of Defence.
Although the Presidency did not disclose the agenda of the meeting, it came against the backdrop of worsening insecurity, including the continued captivity of 115 students abducted from a Catholic boarding school in November.
The incident has intensified public pressure on the Federal Government to recalibrate its response to kidnapping and mass abductions, particularly in the North and parts of the Middle Belt.
On November 26, Tinubu declared a national security emergency, ordering fresh recruitment into security agencies to address manpower gaps and overstretched forces.
He also directed the withdrawal of police personnel attached to private individuals and VIPs, redeploying them to core policing duties.
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