The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mohammed Abubakar Badaru

  • Defence Minister Badaru resigns

    Defence Minister Badaru resigns

    • Tinubu hosts ex-CDS Musa

    After 27 months in office, Defence Minister Mohammed Abubakar Badaru yesterday resigned from the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    He tendered his quit letter, which takes immediate effect to the President, who promptly accepted it and wished him well.

    Badaru, 63, said he left government on health ground.

    Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, broke the news of the minister’s resignation in a statement last night.

    According to him, a replacement for Badaru might be forwarded for confirmation by the Senate at the end of this week.

    Onanuga said Badaru’s resignation came at a time of heightened security challenges and ongoing reforms within the defence establishment.

    As part of the Defence reorganization, the President in October changed the Service chiefs and the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

    Badaru served as governor of Jigawa State for two terms from 2015 to 2023 before his appointment as Defence Minister on August 21, 2023.

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    Tinubu hosts ex-CDS Musa

    The President yesterday held talks with the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa at the State House, Abuja.

    Gen. Musa, who arrived at the Villa at exactly 7:03 pm, was ushered into the President’s Office wing by a senior security personnel.

    The former Defence chief was making his first public appearance at the Villa since his retirement on October 24.

    The mission of the former CDS at the State House was not disclosed. Neither Gen. Musa, nor State House officials spoke to journalists afterwards.

  • Badaru and the secessionist scarecrow

    Badaru and the secessionist scarecrow

    After many months of inscrutable silence as Defence minister, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru has stirred the hornets’ nest by his peremptory decree against secessionist movements. “The Federal Government will not entertain (such) demand capable of causing division and disaffection among Nigerians,” he bellowed. “Therefore, living together is not an option but an obligation. This is evident in Mr President’s firm resolve to fight any secessionist agenda in any part of the country.” It is understandable why every president seems dead set against balkanisation, for none of them wants to be seen, in the mould of Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union, as the last president or ruler of a united Nigeria. But to denounce self-determination as giddily as Mr Badaru has done and offhandedly characterise every call for secession as evil is to sweep the problem under the carpet.

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    It is good that the minister has just woken up and is now stirring himself to his duties, but he needs to bridle his tongue and put his best foot forward. On the surface, there is nothing wrong advocating unity, but it is unclear whether this can be done by fiat or by suffusing it with propaganda. Without a workable political structure anchored on federalism agreed to by the people, and without a sound economic structure that enables the federating units to develop at their own pace, it is hard to convince them that staying together is an obligation. No, for now, whether the government likes to hear it or not, and irrespective of the instruments of coercion at its disposal, staying together is in fact optional. Until the government can inspire a solution to the national question and make unity attractive, it is insulting and uninformed to describe living together as an obligation.