Sani Shinkafi, a former Zamfara State governorial candidate, has called on President Bola Tinubu to fire Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defense, and disband the Ministry.
This was spoken by Shinkafi in response to an old video of Matawalle showing support for bandits.
Matawalle, the governor of Zamfara State at the time, was seen defending some of the state’s troublemakers in the footage, which was captured by Channels TV in 2021.
Matawalle made the remark in the State House in Abuja following a meeting with Muhammadu Buhari, the president at the time.
“Not all of them are criminals,” Matawalle stated in response to inquiries from reporters regarding the actions of bandits in Zamfara State.
In a statement issued on behalf of the Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social Development, Shinkafi responded to the video and urged Tinubu to look into it.
“More importantly, Bello Matawalle’s interview with a television correspondent as the Governor of Zamfara State at the time, in which he stated that ‘not all bandits are criminals,’ has gone viral on social media, depicting him as a bandit sympathizer and incapable of combating them,” he claimed.
Additionally, General Musa, the next Minister of Defense, was Chief of Defense Staff under Minister of State for Defense Bello Matawalle. Matawalle should not continue to serve under Musa in order to prevent personality conflicts.
“As a distinguished military leader, General Musa ought to be allowed to reorganize and reposition the Ministry of Defense for the next duties. During this moment of a security state of emergency, changing the security architecture should not be motivated by partisan politics or sentiment.
Therefore, I demand that Bello Matawalle be fired as Minister of State for Defense right away. His term serves as a depressing indictment on the war on terror. Like Mohammed Badaru, the former Minister of Defense, who resigned freely, Matawalle need to be fired or honorably retire. Political concerns are subordinated to national security. Everyone is keeping an eye on us.
“I also call for the immediate elimination of the Minister of State for Defense position. In military command, it is both superfluous and abnormal.
The command structure is not divided like it is in the nation under a serious national defense architecture. Nigeria now has a structure where the Minister of State for Defence is in charge of the marine domain, which is crucial to our economy and national security, rather than the senior minister.
Second, the junior minister is also in charge of the Pension Board, which is meant to provide for veterans’ care. Most significantly, the senior minister is not in charge of the Defence Industries Corporation, which is meant to be the country’s defense ecosystem of businesses, governmental organizations, and academic institutions that create, manufacture, and provide military hardware and services.
“In the Ministry of Defense, we cannot have two ministers conducting concurrent administrations, especially since that all sectors must work together to handle the security concerns. The position of Minister of State for Defense should be eliminated, according to security experts. It’s time to let it go.
