Group Calls for Defence Minister’s Sack over Escalating Insecurity
Alex Enumah in Abuja
A pro-transparency and accountability group, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately sack the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, over what they described as gross incompetence and abysmal failure in tackling the growing insecurity across Nigeria.
The group, Ethics Vanguard, in a statement released yesterday in Abuja, expressed outrage at the worsening state of insecurity under Badaru’s watch, lamenting the daily carnage inflicted on innocent Nigerians by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and armed militias.
Meanwhile, the group has commended the lawmaker representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency in Plateau State, Hon. Solomon Maren, for courageously speaking truth to power by publicly denouncing the ineffectiveness of the Defence Ministry in securing lives and property.
According to the Executive Director of Ethics Vanguard, Miss Amina Mohammed, the time has come for decisive action, not rhetorical assurances or cosmetic changes, insisting that President Tinubu must replace Badaru with a competent, tested and proactive defence strategist or a committed statesman who can coordinate the armed forces efficiently and reinvigorate Nigeria’s counterterrorism operations.
“The scale and intensity of attacks across Nigeria under Mohammed Badaru Abubakar’s tenure as Minister of Defence is not only frightening but also unacceptable,” she stated.
Adding that “From the heartland of Plateau to Southern Kaduna, Benue, Zamfara, Sokoto, and even the Federal Capital Territory, Nigerians are being butchered like animals in their homes, farms, schools and highways. The Defence Minister, instead of leading from the front, has retreated into silence, bureaucracy and irrelevance.”
The Ethics Vanguard described Badaru’s appointment as a glaring example of misplacement of priorities and misjudgment of competence, stressing that the job of Nigeria’s Defence Minister cannot be entrusted to an individual whose track record and background are not merit-oriented.
The group further argued that a distracted administrator cannot adequately respond to the demands of wartime Nigeria—a country now under the siege of non-state actors and transnational jihadist threats.
“It is totally unconscionable that at a time when the Nigerian state is facing an existential war from insurgents and terrorists, the Minister of Defence is a politician without any clear security pedigree or even the commitment to carrying out the mandate of his high calling.”
“Badaru is clearly analogue in the face of Nigeria’s modern asymmetrical warfare challenges. This minister lacks the tactical acumen, operational discipline, and strategic insight required to reform, motivate, and coordinate Nigeria’s overstretched armed forces,” the statement added.
