The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has asked President Bola Tinubu’s appointees from Northern Nigeria to defend the government they are serving in or quit.
Matawalle said this in a statement on Monday in reaction to the recent attack on the Tinubu administration by one of the appointees, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Baba-Ahmed, who serves as the special adviser on political matters in the presidency, said it would have been better if Matawalle had listed his achievements as minister and those of the other appointees from the North instead of attacking the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
He was reacting to a statement by Matawalle in which he described the forum as “political paperweight.”
Until his appointment as adviser, Baba-Ahmed was the spokesperson of NEF. He is also a relative of the vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
The LP came third in the election, losing to President Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara state, in his latest statement said Baba-Ahmed and other appointees from the North owe the administration a duty to promote and advance its efforts across all sectors.
“It is pertinent to state that every appointee of President Tinubu including Dr. Baba-Ahmed owe the government a copious duty to promote, elucidate and advance the good works and commendable efforts of the government across all sectors.
“As appointees of the government from the North, we must all take a stand, be unequivocal and be counted in the roll of honours for our support and work for the success of the administration we are serving.
“This is not the time to keep quiet in the face of intimidation and misrepresentation of the efforts and achievements of President Bola Ahmed TinubuGCFR . We must stand up to be counted for being on the part of government or take our exit,” he said.