Victor Samuel Leonard Malu (15 January 1947 – 9 October 2017) DSS mni fwc psc was

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 ...

's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) from 1999 to 2001 and Force Commander of the

ECOMOG The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work ...

peace-keeping force in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

from 1996 to 1998.

Birth and education

Malu was born on 15 January 1947 at

Katsina-Ala Katsina-Ala is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Katsina-Ala where the A344 highway starts. It is also the location of an important archeological site where artifacts of the Nok culture hav ...

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is th ...

of Tiv origins. He enrolled in 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 ...

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...

in 1967 as part of the 3rd Regular Course and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant enlisted upon graduation in 1970. Other officers in the NDA 3rd Regular Course included Senator and retired Brig-Gen.

David Mark David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark , is a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier General and politician. He was President of the Senate of Nigeria from 2007 to 2015 and was the Senator for Benue South Senatorial District Benue State. He is a member of th ...

, Gen.

Tunde Ogbeha Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha (born 1 September 1947) is a Nigerian politician and retired brigadier general who served as the administrator of Akwa Ibom State and then of Bendel State during the military rule of General Ibrahim Babangida (1985–1993). ...

, Gen.

Raji Rasaki Raji Alagbe Rasaki (born 7 January 1947) is a retired brigadier general in the Nigerian Army who served as military governor of Ogun State, Ondo State, and Lagos State between 1986 and 1991 during the military administration of General Ibrahim B ...

, Gen. Chris Garuba, Gen.

Abdulkareem Adisa Abdulkareem Adisa (; 22 August 1948 – 25 February 2005) was a Nigerian major general who was military governor of Oyo State (August 1990 – January 1992) during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. He was convicted for involve ...

, Brig-Gen.

Halilu Akilu Halliru Akilu (born 2 November 1947) is a Nigerian general who was Director of National Intelligence and Director of Military Intelligence at various times in the 1990s. Early life Akilu was born and educated in Kano State. Military career Aki ...

, Adm.

Mike Akhigbe Okhai Michael Akhigbe (29 September 1946 – 13 October 2013) was a Vice-admiral (Nigerian Navy), Vice admiral of the Nigerian Navy who served as ''de facto'' Vice President of Nigeria (as Chief of General Staff) under military head of state Gen ...

and Gen.

Tunji Olurin Adetunji Idowu Ishola Olurin mni ( yo, Adétúnjí Ìdòwú Ìṣọ̀lá Olúrìn; 3 December 1944 – 20 August 2021) was a Nigerian one-star general in the national army, who served as the military Governor of Oyo State and Field Commander o ...

. Later he attended

Command and Staff College, Jaji Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

and the

National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Nigeria is a policy formation center for bureaucrats, private sector leaders, Army officers, and medium-rank and senior civil servants, which was founded in 1979. Most policymaker ...

Kuru Kuru may refer to: Anthropology and history * Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people * Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology * Kuru Kingdom, ...

, Jos.

Military career

At the time of the February 1976 coup when 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 ...

took power, Malu was chief instructor of the Nigerian Military School, Zaria. After the coup, Malu was interrogated for two weeks but released. Malu became General Officer Training, Army Headquarters and Commander, 7 Mechanised Brigade. He chaired the tribunal that tried General

Oladipo Diya Donaldson Oladipo Diya (born 3 April 1944) is a Nigerian general who served as Chief of the General Staff, (''de facto'' Vice President of Nigeria) under military head of state General Sani Abacha from 1994 until his arrest for treason in 1997. ...

and other officers for attempting to overthrow the

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 ...

regime in 1997. Malu was commander of the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political union, political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an ...

(ECOWAS) peace-keeping force

from December 1996 to April 1998 during the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Nat ...

. Malu impressed both Liberians and international observers with the improvements that followed his taking command. By March 1997 he was able to claim that Liberia was completely cleared of land mines. He fell out with Liberian President Charles Taylor, who in April 1998 accused him of trying to run a parallel government. It was due to this rift that Malu was replaced as commander. In a book he wrote later, cited at Taylor's trial in The Hague, Malu reportedly claimed that in 1997 Taylor secretly smuggled arms and ammunition from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

through

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

without informing ECOMOG peacekeepers. Malu was appointed Chief of Army Staff in May 1999 at the start of President

's administration and was dismissed in April 2001. Later, Malu said he warned President

to guard against American involvement in the nation's affairs, saying they were only aiming to further their own interests. He claimed that it was because the Americans disliked his views that Obasanjo fired him before the signing of the Nigerian-United States Military Cooperation Agreement. He was awarded Force Service Star (FSS) Award, Meritorious Service Star (MSS) Award, and Distinguished Service Star (DSS) Award.

Post military career

In October 2001 there were protests by Tiv people in Zaki Biam,

local government,

. 19 soldiers sent to restore peace were killed. In retaliation, the army allegedly massacred 100 people. Malu said armed men burst into his own home and killed four of his household before burning down neighbouring houses. In July 2005 Malu complained that the government was persecuting him. He said the State Security Services had seized his passport on the basis that he had been "going to Paris frequently and was holding meetings with people who do not mean well for the country." He also said that his military service records had been declared missing and he was not getting fair treatment over his pension. In January 2006 he caused controversy when he spoke at a meeting of the

Arewa Consultative Forum The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is a political and cultural association of leaders in Northern Nigeria formed in 2000 which has considerable influence in the political scene. (Arewa means "Northern" in Hausa, the primary language of the region.) ...

in Kaduna, saying he regretted not having overthrown

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 ...

's government while he was COAS. The president's Public Affairs Assistant,

Femi Fani-Kayode David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode (born 16 October 1960) is a Nigerian politician, essayist, poet and lawyer. He was a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was with the opposition's All Progressive Congress (A ...

, said Malu’s statement was treasonable. In September 2008 Malu, a diabetic, went into a coma and was rushed to

Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is a tertiary hospital established in 1961 and is located in Idi-Araba, Surulere, Lagos State, the administrative division of Nigeria. The teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Lagos Coll ...

where he was placed on life support in the intensive care unit. Later he was transferred to a hospital in London, and after treatment for stroke was discharged from hospital to his Central London home in April 2009. Malu died on 9 October 2017 at the age of 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malu, Victor 1947 births 2017 deaths Nigerian generals Nigerian Defence Academy alumni People from Benue State Members of the Nigerian National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies Chiefs of Army Staff (Nigeria)

Birth and education

Military career

Post military career

See also

References