Suleiman Saidu (born 1942) is a retired

Nigerian Navy The Nigerian Navy (NN) is a branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is among the largest navies on the African continent, consisting of several thousand personnel, including those of the Coast Guard. History The Nigerian Navy owes its origin to ...

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

who served as Chief of Naval Staff from September to November 1993. Rear Admiral Suleiaman Saidu joined the Nigerian Navy in 1961 and had his basic training at the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

, Dartmouth in the United Kingdom. He took active part in the Nigerian Civil War (1967 - 1970) during the landings and subsequent operations. He attended the Armament Supply and Inspection course at Bombay, India in 1971. He qualified as a Long Gunnery Officer at

HMS Excellent A ship and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Excellent'': * was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1787. She was converted into a 58-gun fourth rate in 1820 and became a gunnery training ship in 1830. She was broke ...

in Britain in 1972. Saidu was appointed military governor of

Rivers State Rivers State, also known as Rivers, is a state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed in 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include: Imo to the north, Abia and Akwa Ib ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

from July 1978 to October 1979 during the military regime of General

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pres ...

, handing over power to the elected civilian governor Melford Obiene Okilo at the start of the

Nigerian Second Republic The Second Nigerian Republic was a brief formation of the Nigerian state which succeeded the military governments formed after the overthrow of the first republic. Background Contested elections and political turbulence in the Western region en ...

. Rear Admiral Suleiman Saidu served as the Captain of NNS Aradu. Prior to taking over the command of the Aradu, He was Staff Officer 1 Administration at the

Nigerian Defence Academy The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is a military university based in Kaduna, Nigeria that trains officer cadets for commissioning into one of the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The duration of t ...

Kaduna, from where he went to command the MK 9 corvette NNS ERIN-OMI before proceeding to the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , presi ...

, Wellington, India in 1982. Rear Admiral Suleiman Saidu also served as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command (1992-1993) and Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command (1993). Rear Admiral Suleiman Saidu was confirmed by General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

as Chief of Naval Staff in September 1993. He was later replaced by Rear Admiral

Allison Madueke Allison Amaechina Madueke (born 1944) is a retired Nigerian naval officer. He was Chief of Naval Staff from 1993 to 1994, military governor of Anambra State from January 1984 to August 1985, and Imo State military governor from 1985 to 1986. B ...

for the sake of ethnic balancing.

References

Living people Nigerian military governors of Rivers State 1942 births Chiefs of Naval Staff (Nigeria) {{nigeria-mil-bio-stub