By Mike Odiakose in Abuja
Following the resignation of Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar, an internationally acclaimed Nigerian security expert, Dr Lekan Jackson Ojo, has called on Minister of State (Defence), Bello Matawalle, to also resign.
Dr Ojo declared that Matawalle, just like the immediate past Minister of Defence, has not shown that he is capable of handling the responsibilities of the office he is presently occupying.
He stressed that Matawalle has been very dormant since his appointment and has exhibited poor response to security challenges in the country.
“I think Matawalle should also go immediately, that is the Minister of State for Defence. These two persons are not relevant, they ran their states aground as governors.”
Dr Jackson Ojo also called on President Tinubu to appraise members of his Cabinet and sack those that are not performing optimally.
“They came to the federal level and were honoured with positions of Minister of Defence and Minister of State. What has been their contributions to the administration?”
He also raised issues about the appointment of General Chris Musa as the new Minister of Defence, stressing that there could be conflict of interest since the new Defence Minister was once answerable to Matawalle when he was Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
“Minister of Defence is gone and I think Matawalle should follow. If Mr. President should continue like this there are lots of others we will suggest he should fire.
“He should bring in technocrats into his cabinet and not politicians. Congratulations to Nigerians that one is gone and more will still follow.
“I want to congratulate Nigerians that former Minister of Defence, Badaru, has resigned, whether he resigned of was booted out. He was of no positive impact on Nigeria as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The office of Minister of Defense is a very sensitive one because without a good defence minister nothing will thrive.
“The position is occupied now by an experienced four-star army general, Chris Musa
“What is Bello Matawalle who was the Minister of State under Badaru still waiting for, is it until Mr President boots him out?
“Both of them did not achieve anything in office as Minister and Minister of State.
“Recently we saw a video that went viral where Matawalle said verbatim that not all bandits are criminals. If somebody is saddled with the responsibility as Minister of Defence and he is having sympathy for some bandits it means Nigeria was almost doomed.
“There are lots of allegations by bandits that he was one of their sponsors. Let’s not take that on the face value because it can be political but this is about having sympathy for bandits, coupled with the fact that both of them failed woefully and both of them should bow out.
“Pairing Matawalle and General Chris Musa together is like adding pass and fail together – it won’t blend. The two of them cannot co-travel well at the Ministry of Defence.
“The two of them don’t have equal knowledge about defence matters. While General Chris Musa has vast knowledge of defence, Matawalle has no knowledge of defence.
“Chris Musa is an experienced man, we know him well. But how can he pair with someone that has alleged sympathy for bandits?
“So Matawalle should honourably bow out and if he fails to bow out, Mr President should kick him out,” he added.