Ex-Chief Of Army Staff Victor Malu Is Dead

Former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Victor Malu, is dead.

A family source confirmed to Channels Television today (Monday) that General Malu died at the age of 70 in the early hours of Sunday.

He was said to have travelled to Cairo, Egypt for a medical check-up and died at a hospital after he had battled diabetes and stroke since 2008.

“The late General travelled two weeks ago to Cairo for his regular check-up, but could not make it back,” said the source.

Malu was Commander of Economic Community of West Africa Monitoring Group, ECOMOG Peace Keeping Force to Sierra Leone and Liberia between August 1996 and January 1998.

He was later appointed Chief of Army Staff by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.

He also chaired the military tribunal that tried Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, erstwhile Chief of General Staff and  Vice Chairman, Armed Forces Ruling Council, in 1998 over alleged coup plot against late Head of State General Sani Abacha.

The late general whose village, Tse-Adoor in Benue State, was razed down by the military invasion of Zaki-Biam in 2001, was born on January 15, 1947.

He enrolled into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna as part of the Third Regular Course in 1967 was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1970.