President Bola Tinubu has called for a new doctrine of continental defence built on trust, shared intelligence, and coordinated strategy as Nigeria hosted the maiden African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit in Abuja.
Zig Diaries Defence
Date: Monday, 25 August 2025
Time: 16:00 WAT
Location: 📍 Abuja, Nigeria
The historic gathering, the first of
its kind on the continent, brings together Africa’s top military commanders to
forge a united front against terrorism, cybercrime, piracy, and transnational
crime.
Addressing the summit through Vice President Kashim Shettima, President Tinubu warned that Africa’s scale of insecurity demands urgent collective action.
“From the deserts where insurgency festers, to the high seas where piracy prowls; from the silent corridors of cybercrime to the ruthless networks of transnational criminals, none of these tragedies respects borders, and neither should our response,” he declared.
He urged defence chiefs to seize the summit as more than a ceremonial meeting but as a turning point in Africa’s military cooperation.
“This is the moment to reassess our military objectives
in the collective aspiration to make Africa safe. It is time to forge a new
doctrine of continental defence, one rooted in trust, shared intelligence, and
coordinated strategy,” Tinubu stated.
The Nigerian leader also proposed the creation of a permanent African Chiefs of Defence Staff Forum to institutionalize dialogue and coordinated action across borders.
“Let us institutionalize this spirit of unity and make it a cornerstone of Africa’s security architecture,” he said, stressing Nigeria’s traditional stance of being “a good neighbour and a brother’s keeper in the struggle for peace.”
Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, echoed the urgency of the moment, charging his colleagues to invest in cyber defence, artificial intelligence, and indigenous technology to strengthen Africa’s military capacity.
“As host nation, Nigeria is deeply
committed to the ideals of regional stability and continental defence
integration,” General Musa pledged.
In his goodwill address, Professor
Ibrahim Gambari, former Chief of Staff to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari,
applauded Nigeria’s role in convening the summit. He insisted that Africa must
“own and build its security architecture” through synergy in coordination and
intelligence sharing.
Other key voices added weight to the Abuja declaration. The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru, represented by Minister of State Alhaji Bello Matawale, described the summit as a bold statement of continental commitment. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called it the birth of a “new era in African security cooperation,” warning that militaries “cannot afford to be bystanders.”
The ECOWAS Commission,
represented by Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, stressed that “no region in Africa
is spared from insecurity,” highlighting the importance of regional
cooperation.
The event drew African defence chiefs, diplomats, legislators, and security leaders. For Nigeria, the summit reaffirmed its leadership role in regional peacekeeping and continental military partnerships.
Fact-check & Background Context: The African Defence Chiefs Summit 2025 is the first high-level continental gathering of military leaders under Nigeria’s leadership.
Nigeria has historically contributed to African peacekeeping, including ECOWAS interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and more recently in the Sahel.
Tinubu’s call for a permanent forum mirrors earlier continental initiatives under the African Union but takes on sharper urgency given rising extremist violence in the Sahel, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and cross-border cyber threats.
🏷 Tags: Tinubu, African Defence Chiefs Summit, Abuja, Nigeria, Terrorism, Security Cooperation, Continental Defence, General Musa, Ibrahim Gambari, ECOWAS
#ZigDiariesDefence #AfricanSecurity
#Tinubu #DefenceSummitAbuja #ContinentalDefence
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