Defence Minister, Badaru Abubakar resigns

Badaru Abubakar

THE Minister of Defence, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar has resigned his appointment with immediate effect.

Abubakar, in a letter dated December 1, sent to President Bola Tinubu, said he was quitting on health grounds.

A statement by the Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, last night said: “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.  

Badaru’s last public comments were in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, where he highlighted the risks of bombing bandit hideouts.

He had said that some of them are located in forests that bombs cannot penetrate.

Badaru, who acknowledged the persistence of security challenges, said: “This is how guerrilla warfare works. There will be periods of calm, and then they launch an attack that shakes the nation.

“Yes, we know their locations, but some of these areas are places where direct strikes could endanger civilians, or forests where our bombs cannot penetrate.

“We never said the problem was completely over. But this renewed kidnapping of schoolchildren worries us. We are studying what went wrong and how to prevent a recurrence.”