As Jonathan fires service chiefs, Gadzama, Onovo || Appoints 6 govs as zonal campaign co-ordinators || Forty years after the end of the civil war fought by Dim Chukwemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu-led Republic of Biafra and General Yakubu Gowon-led Nigeria army, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday appointed an Igbo man, Major-General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika, from Ovim, Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State to head the Nigeria Army.

Major-General Ihejirika was born on February 13, 1956 and was commissioned in the army on December 17, 1977. A fellow of Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors, he was the Chief of Defence Logistic, Defence Headquarters before he assumed his new position.

In a surprise announcement, the president shocked all departments of security units in the country, when he also announced the sack of all the service chiefs, the director-general of the State Security Services (SSS) and the inspector-general of police, and appointed new ones to take over from them.

In the new appointments announced through a press statement by the presidential spokesman, Mr. Ima Niboro, the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyin Petinrin, took over from Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike as the new Chief of Defence Staff.

Major General Ihejirika took over from Lieutenant General Abdulrahaman Dambazzau.

The appointment of Ihejirika was last night viewed as the "end of the perceived marginalisation of Ndi-Igbo in the army," as he becomes the first man of Igbo extraction to head the army 40 years after the civil war.