FG Clears Matawalle Of Sponsoring Bandits

By Ayodele Oni

The Federal Government has investigated various allegations against the minister of state for defence, Bello Matawalle and acted accordingly.

Matawalle, a former governor, has been alleged to be one of the godfathers and financiers for the bandits operating in the the northern part of Nigeria.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga revealed that the office of the national security adviser to the president was detailed to investigate the allegations.

Onanuga, who spoke on Arise TV stated that “the National Security Adviser’s office investigated these claims and found them to be false, asserting that Matawalle is fit to perform his duties.”

Onanuga, while clarifying the rationale behind the President’s decision not to remove Matawalle during Wednesday’s cabinet shake up maintained that “As far as I know, most of those things are just mere allegations. I think in one of them, I got something like that I sent to the NSA, I said have you heard about this?

“And he said no, we have proved a lot to those things that they are not correct, they are not true. People are just bringing out all kinds of fake things and allegations about someone.

“And that is why the man is there. Even the President has heard so many stories about him. For him to be there, shows like I said, some of those things have been probed, and they are found not to be true,”

Onanuga acknowledged the circulation of various stories regarding Matawalle’s alleged connections to insecurity in Zamfara State, noting that these allegations have even reached the President.

However, he emphasized that the National Security Adviser’s office investigated these claims and found them to be false, asserting that Matawalle is fit to perform his duties.