Nigeria’s minister of defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar threw in the towel yesterday, December 1, hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu held a closed-door meeting with former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
A statement by the arrowhead of the presidential information management, Bayo Onanuga said that Badaru resigned on the ground of ill health and that the President had accepted the resignation.
The Presidency statement reads: Nigeria’s defence minister, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has resigned his appointment, with immediate effect.
In a letter dated December 1, sent to President Bola Tinubu, Abubakar said he was quitting on health grounds.
President Tinubu has accepted the resignation and thanked Abubakar for his services to the nation.
President Tinubu will likely inform the Senate of Badaru’s successor later this week.
Badaru Abubakar, 63, was a two-term governor of Jigawa state from 2015 to 2023. He was appointed as a minister on August 21, 2023, by President Tinubu.
His resignation comes amid President Tinubu’s declaration of a national security emergency, with plans to elaborate on its scope in due course.”
The resignation of Badaru and exclusive meeting of President Tinubu with General Musa came amid growing security challenges in the country, especially the North, including the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Kebbi, attacks on worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State and the kidnapping of Catholic schoolchildren in Minna.
Security agencies are believed to be stepping up counter-terrorism and anti-kidnapping operations across the North-West and North-Central regions.
Tinubu’s federal government recently declared national security emergency with the determination to squarely deal with the unending challenges.
