The Nigerian Senate has received a formal request from President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm the newly appointed Chief of Army Staff, Major General Farouk Yahaya.

The request is contained in an Executive communication to the Senate President Ahmad Lawan and read on the floor of the Senate during plenary on Tuesday.

Major General Yahaya replaces Ibrahim Attahiru, a lieutenant general, who died in an air crash alongside 10 other officers and men of the army.

Until his appointment, the new army chief was the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, the counter-insurgency operation in the northeast.

His appointment comes as the country continues to battle several security challenges, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, secessionist agitations in the South-East and Fulani-Herdsmen crisis across the Middle-Belt and several South-West states.