BREAKING: Tinubu orders Nigerian Army to promote ADC Nurudeen Yusuf to brigadier-general

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Nigerian Army to effect a special promotion for his aide-de-camp, Nurudeen Yusuf, from his current rank as a colonel to the rank of brigadier-general.

According to a confidential document addressed to the Chief of Army Staff, National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, it stated that the President approved a special promotion for Mr Yusuf, effective December 12, 2025.

“I wish to convey Mr President’s approval of special presidential promotion of Colonel Nurudeen Alowonle Yusuf to the rank of brigadier-general and retention as ADC C-in-C with effect from 12 December 2025 for your necessary action as enclosed,” the letter seen by Peoples Gazette read.

There are speculations that the promotion is likely to cause rancour in the military because Mr Yusuf was only decorated as a colonel in January this year, making the latest advancement his second within 12 months.

Several officers, including some of his coursemates, reportedly expressed frustration over what they described as an unprecedented fast-tracking of his career, with critics accusing the President of favouritism.

“This beggars belief and defies all logic,” an aggrieved senior officer told PREMIUM TIMES. “Someone who was just promoted to colonel this year?”

Neither the Presidency nor the Nigerian Army has publicly offered an official explanation for Mr Yusuf’s accelerated promotion.

However, PremiumTimes spoke to a source in the Presidency who, on condition of anonymity, said that Tinubu approved the elevation to align Mr Yusuf’s rank with those of other senior security officials attached to the Presidential Villa.

The source added that the Nigeria Police Force in August promoted the President’s Chief Personal Security Officer, Usman Shugaba, from deputy commissioner of police to commissioner of police.

Similarly, the State Security Services (SSS) recently elevated the President’s Chief Security Officer, Adegboyega Fasasi, to the rank of director.

The source explained that the police and SSS ranks are considered equivalent to those of a brigadier-general in the Nigerian Army.

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