Festus Akanbi
The late former National Security
Adviser, General Owoye Andrew Azazi, who was retired by late President Umaru
Yar’Adua as Chief of Defence Staff on August 20, 2008, emerged from retirement
to assume the post of National Security Adviser (NSA) as a civilian on October
4, 2010 under President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
He inherited a range of challenges
from extremists, including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), and the rise of a new violent Islamist group- Boko Haram, whose
insurgency started in 2009.
Azazi was said to be aggressive
behind the scenes. For instance, the State Security Service (SSS), which was under
the purview of Azazi, took what observers considered an unusual step in
November 2011 by arresting a federal senator, Mohammed Ndume and charging him
with aiding Boko Haram.
In June 2012, he was sacked by
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Azazi was born at Peretorugbene in
present Bayelsa State on February 1, 1952. He had his early education in old
Bendel State where he attended Government College Bomadi and graduated in the
class of 1968, after which he joined the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Combatant
Cadet- Course 12 on July 3, 1972.
Azazi was commissioned 2nd
Lieutenant on 14 December 1974. He served as a Brigade Intelligence Officer,
Divisional Intelligence Officer and Colonel Coordination, Headquarters
Directorate of Military Intelligence. He was assistant Defence Attaché at the
Embassy of Nigeria, Washington DC, United States for three years. He served as
a member of the Directing Staff of the Command and Staff College from where he
was posted to Lagos Garrison Command as the Intelligence Officer and
subsequently to the Directorate of Military Intelligence as Colonel
Coordination.
He was later posted to the Training
and Doctrine Command as Colonel Research and Development and then Director of
Training. On graduation from War College, he was appointed Colonel General
Staff, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army and later Deputy Chief of Defence
Intelligence, Defence Intelligence Agency. General Azazi also served as a
member of Directing Staff of the National War College Abuja, rising later to
become its Principal Staff Officer Coordination. He was appointed Director of
Military Intelligence in 2003.
He was appointed the General Officer
Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Nigerian Army in January 2005, and subsequently
appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in June 2006.
He obtained a MSc in Strategic
Studies from the University of Ibadan, and he completed the Staff Intelligence
and Security Course, School of Service Intelligence, Ashford, Kent, UK and
Combined Strategic Intelligence Training Programme, Defence Intelligence
College, Washington DC, United States. He was a graduate of the Command and
Staff College Nigeria, and the National War College, Nigeria where he won the
President and Commander-in-Chief’s merit award for best all round performance.
He was decorated with harvests of honours among which are Commander of the
Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), Grand Service Star (GSS) and Distinguished
Service Star (DSS), among others.
On August 20, 2008, Umaru Yar’Adua
replaced Azazi with Paul Dike as CDS and announced Azazi’s retirement from
military service. He was survived by a wife, five children, and
grandchildren.
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