The coast is now clear for a change of guard at the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope.
Its Commander, Brig.-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, has been elevated to the rank of Major Gen. in the Nigerian Army.
The highest position in the JTF was reserved for a military officer with the rank of Brig.-Gen. in the Nigerian Army or its equivalent in any of the services in the armed forces.
The Army Board, headed by President Umaru Yar�Adua, recently approved the promotion of Ngubane and other officers of the NA to their next ranks at a meeting held in Abuja.
Investigation by our correspondent showed that the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, represented Yar�Adua at the meeting, attended by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, and all the service chiefs.
Ngubane was decorated with the new rank at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
It will be recalled that the removal of Ngubane by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Luka Yusuf, in October, was reversed by Azazi because the COAS reportedly acted unilaterally.
It was learnt that Azazi, who supervises the JTF, felt slighted that Yusuf did not consult him before Ngubane�s unceremonious removal.
Yusuf had appointed an artillery officer, Col. Wuyep Rintip, to take over from Ngubane.
It was gathered that the COAS appointed Rintip, who graduated from the National War College, Abuja, in anticipation of his promotion to the rank of Brig.-Gen. in December.
However, Rintip, who became a Brig- Gen. in the recent promotion exercise, was asked to wait till December when Ngubane would be due for promotion that would make his exit from JTF inevitable.
A reliable source in JTF told our correspondent on Friday that Rintip would take charge of the command of the security outfit before the end of December. Ngubane took over from Brig.-Gen. Alfed Ilogho, in March 2007.
Sunday Punch recalled that Ngubane served as the third commander of the JTF, founded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 to restore law and order in Warri, which witnessed ethnic war since 1997 and to confront the militants, who later held the entire Niger Delta to ransom.
The pioneer Commander of JTF, Brig.-Gen. Elias Zamani, handed over the outfit to Ilogho in 2005.
Officers and men of the agency were in high spirits over the elevation of their boss when our correspondent visited the 93 Battalion, Effurun, the headquarters of JTF, on Friday.
Ngubane, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, dedicated his promotion to God, Yar�Adua, Owoye and Yusuf as well as his subordinates, who contributed immensely to his career growth.
Dec92007