“Mr President, Remove Or Redeploy Ministers For Defence, Police”  –  Major General Alli

By Gideon Njoku

As anxiety and speculations reign over the fate of President Bola Tinubu’s Cabinet members, a retired Army General has weighed in with an advice to the President on which Ministers to do away with.

Major General Danjuma Alli, rtd,  after a comprehensive look at the performance of some  of President Tinubu’s Ministers, especially those whose Ministries have something to do with the Security of Nigeria, advised the President to remove, especially, three Ministers and redeploy them short of sacking them from his Cabinet.

General Alli, who spoke in a recent interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show, advised President Tinubu to relieve the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, and the Minister of State Defence, Bello Matawalle, of their portfolios.

Both Ministers were the Governors of Jigawa and Zamfara States respectively before their appointments.

While Badaru was appointed after his full, two tenures as Jigawa Governor, Matawalle was appointed after he was denied a second term in office by the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dauda Lawal,  who roundly defeated him in the 2023 Governorship Election.

However, Alli said he couldn’t understand why, or how, the two former Governors were appointed Ministers for Defence, considering the security situation in the Country. To him, both Ministers have performed well  below average.

He said President Tinubu needs to appoint very strong personalities to those offices. His suggestion: Retired Military Generals who would properly take charge or, at worst, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

He, also, asked the President to remove and/or redeploy the Ministers for Police and Interior, Margarito Dingyadi and Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo respectively.

While not a few Nigerians agree with the General on the removal/redeployment of the Ministers for Defence  and Police, they disagree with that of Tunji-Ojo. They say, so far, Tunji-Ojo, a member of the House of Representatives until his appointment as Minister, has done quite well, especially, for clearing the backlog of International Passports not issued by the Immigration Service, and making the issuance easier than before. They, however, agree that he has not been active on internal security, a part of his job as Minister for Interior. “He carries on as if his only brief is the Immigration Service”, said a commentator.

They, also, disagree with General Alli’s suggestion of appointing Wike a Minister in the Defence Ministry. “No, never, impossible”, said another commentator, without saying exactly why not.

Recall that Matawalle, as the Governor of Zamfara State, was very helpless against rampaging Bandits in his State. It was during his tenure that (his) Government physically negotiated with terrorists, allegedly, gave them a lot of money. And yet, situation became worse than before the negotiations.