News Editor
By our correspondent
Following the erroneous publication in the TMSNews, we do retract our earlier publication announcing the death of the Army Chief of staff, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja,
The Nigerian Army had on Sunday debunked reports circulating in the media that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja was not dead.
Several reports originating from social media announcing the death of the Army chief went viral on Sunday, claiming that Lagbaja had died of cancer 48 hours ago.
The post read, “The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja, has died. Lagbaja died in an undisclosed hospital overseas nearly 48 hours ago from stage three cancer, according to a senior government official.
“The death of the Chief of Army Staff has been kept secret because of intense lobbying by some Generals who want to take the position.
“Lagbaja, born on February 28, 1968, in Ilobu, Osun State, was appointed by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023, as the 27th Chief of Army Staff.”
Reacting to the post on X, the Nigerian Army marked it as fake news.
However, sources at the Army Headquarters confirmed to our correspondent that the army chief was critically ill.
One of the sources said, “COAS is not dead. He is only critically ill at the moment. We should be praying for him at this critical time and not spreading rumours that he died.”
“He is out of the country for treatment. And I have not heard of his death from anyone around him. There is no way such information could be hidden,” the source said.
