Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar, Monday night, amid growing insecurity, resigned from his position, citing health grounds.
There are, however, strong indications that the erstwhile Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, who was at the villa on Monday, might take over from him.
Bayo Onanuga, Presidential Spokesman said on Monsay that “President Tinubu will likely inform the Senate of Badaru’s successor later this week.”
Musa arrived at the State House at 7:03 p.m. on Monday and was escorted into the President’s office area by a senior security official. He wore dark-green traditional northern attire with elbow-length sleeves. This marks President Tinubu’s first public meeting with Musa since his retirement on October 24, 2025.
According to presidential sources, this new development will place Bello Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence, in a junior position to Christopher Musa, who was his subordinate just a few months ago.
Onanuga stated that Badaru’s resignation came amid Tinubu’s declaration of a national security emergency, with plans to elaborate on its scope in due course.
Most Nigerians have hailed the President’s action, but urged him that more needs to be done, under the ‘reawakening’ by President Tinubu, whose actions are believed to be in line with part of the demands of Donald Trump’s administration in dealing with the alleged Christian genocide in the country.
Metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) gathered last night that President Bola Tinubu has resolved to deal frontally with insecurity and more changes are expected in the Defence and National security of the security architecture.
The thinking in most quarters is that performances of the Ministers in the defence ministry and National Security Adviser have been below expectations, particularly in the era of nationwide security emergency.
Besides, public comments by both the outgoing Defence Minister and National security adviser, they gurther observed, have been everything, but national embarrassments.
For instance, in a statement that may have put the federal government in a bad light, Nuhu Ribadu, NSA, recently said that the abducted Niger school victims are alive and stable
Specifically, Ribadu assured that students and staff abducted from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Agwarra Local Government Area of Niger State, are alive, stable and will soon be reunited with their families.
Armed men had stormed the rural school on November 21, whisking away 315 people, 303 students and 12 teachers in one of the largest mass abductions recorded in recent years.
Days later, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state announced that 50 of the abducted students had managed to escape from captivity, raising hopes among anxious families.
Ribadu, who led a federal government delegation on a solidarity visit to Bulus Yohanna, the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and proprietor of the school, said the government was fully committed to ensuring the safe return of the remaining victims.
The NSA told the bishop and community leaders that intelligence reports confirm the abductees are “doing fine” and would “be back soon.”
“This is a very solemn and difficult moment for us, especially after hearing from some of the parents and all of you. However, we take responsibility because it is our duty to protect you,” Ribadu said, according to a statement by the diocese.
“What does Ribadu think of achieving from that statement? Does that mean, government knows where they are kept, and if that’s the case, what’s stopping the government from bringing them back”, asks security analyst.
Besides, he argues that the “command and coordinating architecture of operations within the security apparatus is confusing.
In an ideal.setting, the minister of Defence, who should be a more knowledgeable and possibly a veteran General as the defence minister should be in charge as he reports to the presodent and commander -in-chief, but that has been lacking, creating that vacuum since the inception of this administration.
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They further argue that recent statement also by Badaru that the forests hosting the terrorists are impenetrable, leaves much to be desired from a serving Defence Minister.
Besides, Nigerians have yet to know how the kwaea abductees regained their freedom without any arrest, amid, conflicting explanations from both the presidency and the Defence Ministry
Musa was appointed as the 18th Chief of Defence Staff of Nigeria on June 23, 2023. During his tenure, he was widely credited with leading major restructuring and modernisation efforts in the military.
As theatre commander before becoming CDS, he led operations against insurgents in the North-east under Operation Hadin Kai.
He also emphasised civil-military cooperation, believing in integrating humanitarian and development initiatives with security operations.
On October 24, 2025, the president announced a major reshuffle of the country’s military leadership.
Under this shake-up, Musa was removed from his position as the CDS and was replaced by Gen. Olufemi Oluyede.
The North has been hit hard by insecurity, with incidents like the abduction of schoolgirls in Kebbi, an attack on worshippers in Eruku, Kwara, and the kidnapping of Catholic schoolchildren in Minna. These events have pushed security agencies to step up counterterrorism and anti-kidnapping efforts across the North-West and North-Central regions.
