Even the severest critics of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration admit that the last few days have seen what appear (at least on the surface) to be a visible, reinvigorated, if Donald Trump-induced, earnestness in the fight against the unchecked widening and deepening of the theaters of death and destruction in the country.
The firing of former Defense Minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (who infamously said in a BBC Hausa interview in late November 2025 that bandits are holed up in forests so impenetrable that bombs cannot get to them) and the appointment of General Christopher Musa in his place signaled a praiseworthy pivot in the direction of never-before-seen seriousness in tackling banditry and terrorism.
But this pivot is undermined, even scorned, by the retention of Bello Mutawalle as Minister of State for Defense.
The problem is not merely that Mutawalle has no background in defense or security. The problem is that he is beset by serious, credible and detailed allegations of complicity with the same bandits who have brought Zamfara and much of the Northwest to its knees.
These allegations have surfaced from multiple directions and from multiple periods, and they are consistent in their substance. They cast a dark shadow over his tenure as governor and raise troubling questions about his fitness to hold any security portfolio.
For example, a former senior aide of his gave an explosive interview in November 2025 in which he alleged that Matawalle provided “36 brand new Hilux vehicles” to notorious bandit commanders while he was governor and even maintained contact with these commanders after he became minister.
The aide also claimed that Matawalle purchased stolen livestock from the bandits at discounted prices. These allegations were not vague hints. They were specific actions accompanied by dates, names, and places, and they were made by someone who had worked closely with him.
This is not where the claims stop. While serving as governor, Matawalle was accused by his successor Dauda Lawal of harboring bandit leaders in the government house and turning the machinery of state toward enabling banditry rather than fighting it. According to reports, Lawal alleged that ransom payments to abductors often passed through government channels under Matawalle.
The accusations were so grave that Lawal called for Matawalle’s removal from the defense ministry on grounds that someone tainted by complicity should not be anywhere near Nigeria’s security apparatus.
Several respected Islamic clerics and political commentators have also raised longstanding claims that Matawalle procured vehicles for bandit leaders as part of what he styled as “peace efforts.”
These allegations aren’t recent, politically motivated hit jobs designed to get him out of his current job. They form a pattern that predates his time as minister and have endured long after he left the governorship.
Of course, Matawalle has denied all of these allegations, and has even reportedly offered to swear on the Qur’an that he has no links to bandits. But denial alone is not proof of innocence. The problem for him is not merely the fact of the accusations but the saturation of the accusations.
They come from a former aide, a sitting governor who succeeded him, Islamic clerics and investigative journalists. When allegations come from such diverse quarters and align in content, the burden shifts. Even if none is proven in a court of law, they have already damaged his credibility beyond repair.
Then there is the now infamous resurfaced video of him defending bandits and making excuses for their criminality. In that clip from 2021, recorded during his time as governor, Matawalle said of bandits that abduct, murder, and maim men, women and children: “not all of them are criminal.” He said bandits turned to criminal activities as a retaliation against vigilante groups who cheat them.
Nigerians who have lost family members or survived kidnapping attempts do not need anyone to tell them how tone-deaf such a defense sounds. Although the clip dates back some years, its resurgence is politically devastating because it reinforces what many Nigerians already suspected.
It shows a man who viewed bandits with indulgent sympathy at best. That video alone would have damaged a defense minister beyond redemption. Combined with the other allegations it makes his retention indefensible.
If President Bola Tinubu could ask Mohammed Badaru Abubakar to resign from his post as Minister of Defense to make way for General Christopher Musa, then there is absolutely no excuse for keeping Matawalle.
Like Abubakar, Mutawalle has zero security experience. But unlike Abubakar, Matawalle comes with enormous ethical baggage and a reputation clouded by claims of enabling the very terror he is supposed to fight. Keeping someone with no security expertise is one kind of error. Keeping someone with no expertise, little education and a tainted reputation is, frankly, national self-sabotage.
Tinubu’s original appointment of both Abubakar and Matawalle as defense ministers raised deep questions about his seriousness in confronting insecurity. What was the rationale for placing two civilians with no defense background at the helm of a ministry that requires seasoned security judgment?
Was it political balancing? Personal loyalty? Regional appeasement? Whatever the reason, it was shortsighted and dangerous at a time when insurgency and banditry had become existential threats. If the president now wants to show that he has awakened to the gravity of the crisis, the place to start is with the removal of those whose presence compromises the integrity of the defense sector.
Even on political grounds, Matawalle fails the most basic test. He has never won a statewide election. He became governor of Zamfara only because the Supreme Court voided the votes cast for the APC in 2019, ruled them wasted and ordered that the candidate with the second highest votes be sworn in.
He was what Nigerians like to call a “Supreme Court governor,” not a governor elected by the will of the people. When he finally faced the electorate in 2023, he lost.
Why does the president believe there is political value in a man who has never actually won the mandate of his state? Someone who cannot mobilize his own people cannot bring political advantage to the center. Someone who lost an election despite incumbency certainly cannot strengthen the political fortunes of an administration struggling with public trust.
In other words, Matawalle brings neither political nor security value to the government. Instead, he brings reputational risk. He is a political liability because he lacks electoral legitimacy. He is a security liability because the allegations against him erode public confidence and taint any efforts at reform within the defense ministry.
There is also no shortage of competent, apolitical, untainted security experts from Zamfara who could replace him without creating regional controversy. The state has produced senior military officers and respected security analysts who have real experience with counterinsurgency, civil-military relations and community-based security programs.
If Tinubu genuinely wants to send a message that his administration is serious about the war against bandits and terrorists, replacing Matawalle with a professional would send that message clearly.
The president cannot continue to insist that he is committed to restoring security while keeping someone whose name triggers suspicion and distrust. Nigeria is at a point where symbolism matters as much as substance.
A tainted defense minister sends the wrong signal to bandits and terrorists, to citizens, to the military, and to our international partners. It tells the world that politics still outranks competence at a moment when many are losing hope.
The fight against terrorists and bandits demands clarity of purpose. It demands leaders whose integrity is above reproach. It demands individuals who inspire confidence in troops and communities.
Bello Matawalle does not meet that standard. Every day he remains in that office deepens public skepticism about the administration’s seriousness and chips away at whatever legitimacy the security sector still has.
If the president wants to convince Nigerians that he is taking the security crisis seriously, he must remove Matawalle. Keeping him undermines the mission, insults victims and burdens the nation with a defense minister whose reputation is incompatible with the gravity of the role.
The country deserves better. The security forces deserve better. And a government that claims to prioritize the restoration of peace cannot be served by a man whose name has become a symbol of the problem rather than the solution.
