A former governorship candidate in Zamfara State, Sani Shinkafi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to sack the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle and scrap the Ministry.
Shinkafi stated this while reacting to an old video of Matawalle expressing sympathy for bandits.
The video, recorded by Channels TV in 2021, captured Matawalle, who was then the Governor of Zamfara State, defending some troublemakers in the state.
Matawalle made the comment at the State House in Abuja, after meeting with then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
While answering questions from journalists on the activities of bandits in Zamfara State, Matawalle said, “Not all of them are criminals.”
Reacting to the video in a statement signed on behalf of the Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social Development, Shinkafi called on Tinubu to investigate the video.
He said, “More importantly, the interview Bello Matawalle granted a television correspondent as the then Governor of Zamfara State, in which he said that ‘not all bandits are criminals,’ which has gone viral on social media, depicts him as a bandit sympathiser and incapable of combating them.
“Furthermore, the new Minister of Defence, General Musa, served under Bello Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence, as Chief of Defence Staff. It would be inappropriate for Matawalle to remain in office under Musa to avoid personality clashes.
“General Musa, as a distinguished military officer, should be given a free hand to reorganise and reposition the Ministry of Defence for the tasks ahead. There should be no sentiment or partisan politics in overhauling the security architecture during this period of a state of emergency on security.
“Accordingly, I call for the immediate sack of Bello Matawalle as Minister of State for Defence. His tenure is a sad commentary on the fight against terrorism. Like the former Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, who voluntarily resigned, Matawalle should also honourably resign or be sacked. National security supersedes political interests. The whole world is watching us.
“I equally demand the immediate scrapping of the office of Minister of State for Defence. It is unnecessary and an aberration in military command.
“Under a serious national defence architecture, the command system is not split like it is in the country. Nigeria is currently operating a system in which the senior minister does not have control of the maritime domain, which is very critical to our economy and national security, because it is handed over to the Minister of State for Defence to oversee.
“Secondly, the Pension Board, which is supposed to cater for the welfare of veterans, is also in the purview of the junior minister. Most importantly, the Defence Industries Corporation, which is supposed to be the nation’s defence ecosystem of companies, government agencies, and research institutions that develop, produce, and supply military equipment and services, is also not under the senior minister.
“We cannot have two ministers running parallel administrations in the Ministry of Defence, especially now that the cooperation of every sector is needed to address the security challenges. Security experts are in one accord that the office of the Minister of State for Defence should be scrapped. It is time to get rid of it.”
