President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the conferment of Nigeria’s second highest national honor on the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (retired)

Buratai will be decorated with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) at an investiture ceremony scheduled for October 11, 2022, at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

The award is coming about 19 months after President Buhari appointed Buratai, alongside other retiring service chiefs, as non-career ambassadors.

While Buratai was appointed as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic, a former Defence Chief, Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (retd.), was named the Head of Mission to Cameroon.

Other former service chiefs rewarded with ambassadorial appointments by the president included Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (Rtd), and Air Vice Marshal Mohammed S. Usman (Rtd).