- Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi
Thomas "Tom" Aguiyi-Ironsi is a former Minister of Defence of
Nigeria . He is the son of former military leaderMajor General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi ,cite news |first= John|last= Elendu |title= Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Tom or Joy |url= http://elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=245&Itemid=33 |work= Elendureports.com|date= 2006-08-07|accessdate=2007-01-25 ] and was the ambassador toTogo before former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo appointed him to succeedRoland Oritsejafor as Defence Minister.cite news |first= Lucky |last= Nwankwere|coauthors= Molly Kilete|title= Obasanjo drops Defence Minister…Aguiyi-Ironsi’s son takes over |url= http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=8619&z=5 |work= Online Nigeria |publisher= |date= 2006-08-31|accessdate=2007-01-25 ] Aguiyi-Ironsi is fromUmuahia ,Abia State .While Aguiyi-Ironsi was ambassador to Togo, the choices to replace the outgoing Foreign Minister,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , were reportedly narrowed down to him andJoy Ogwu . However, after Obasanjo fired Oritsejafor, Aguiyi-Ironsi received the job of Defence Minister while Ogwu became foreign minister. The two were sworn in onAugust 30 ,2006 .On
January 24 ,2007 , Aguiyi-Ironsi announced that Nigeria would send a battalion ofpeacekeeping troops toSomalia .cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Nigeria to send peacekeeping battalion to Somalia |url= http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L24359913&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-6 |work= reuter.co.uk|publisher=Reuters |date= 2007-01-24|accessdate=2007-01-25 ]References
External links
* [http://www.tribune.com.ng/13032007/news/news14.html April elections, a big challenge - Military] , Nigerian Tribune
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.