The Presidency has provided an explanation as to why Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence, was not removed during the recent cabinet reshuffle by President Bola Tinubu.
The clarification came from Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday.
Matawalle has faced repeated accusations from the Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, who alleged that Matawalle was secretly collaborating with bandits in the north-west region of Nigeria. Zamfara State has been heavily impacted by banditry and insecurity, leading to significant political and social tension in the region.
However, Onanuga dismissed these allegations, stating that investigations carried out by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) revealed no truth to the claims. According to him, the accusations against Matawalle were politically driven and not based on solid evidence.
He said, “As far as I know, most of those things are just mere allegations. In one of them, I got something like that and sent it to the NSA and asked: ‘Have you heard about this?’
“The NSA said: ‘No. We have probed a lot of those things; they are not true’. People are just bringing out all kinds of fake things and allegations. That is why the man (Matawalle) is still in the cabinet.
“The president, I’m sure, has heard many stories about him. For him to be there shows that, like I have said, some of those things have been probed; they have been found not to be true.
“The NSA office has already investigated some of those allegations. They are mere fabrications.”
