Matawalle Urges National Unity Against Insecurity, Says Politics Won’t End Security Crisis
Minister of State for Defence Matawalle has urged Nigerians to support security agencies, warning against politicising insecurity and spreading misleading content.
Minister of State for Defence Matawalle has urged Nigerians to support security agencies, warning against politicising insecurity and spreading misleading content.
The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, has said that only God can ultimately bring an end to Nigeria’s security challenges.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa, Matawalle said insecurity remained a national challenge that would require collective efforts from both security agencies and citizens to overcome.
He urged Nigerians to support security agencies and prayed for peace, while warning politicians against exploiting the situation for political gain.
“It’s disheartening, and we must all rise to ensure that security agencies and Nigerians work together to end insecurity in the country. Insecurity does not discriminate based on political affiliation or religion. It can affect anyone.
“That is why we have urged the opposition to stop using insecurity to incite people. It is a challenge that can happen to anyone, and no Nigerian is happy about it. Unfortunately, some members of the opposition appear pleased with the situation. They do not care about the people. What matters to them is portraying the government as a failure for their own political interests and deceiving people into believing they alone can end insecurity.
“It is only God that can bring an end to this insecurity, alongside our collective prayers and efforts. It should not be used as a tool to condemn others or score political points,” he said.
According to him, some people were circulating old and misleading videos on social media to suggest the failure of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Noting that insecurity was not an isolated case in Nigeria, Matawalle promised that security operatives were working around the clock to crush terrorists unleashing attacks in parts of the country.
“There are fake and recycled videos being circulated; some dating back to Jonathan’s administration and others from countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali, yet they are being presented as incidents that occurred under this administration. That is not true.
“Our security operatives are working tirelessly across the country. We have directed them to deal decisively with terrorists, but this is not a challenge that can disappear overnight. Even some of the world’s powerful nations have battled insecurity for years and are still confronting it.
“We ask Nigerians to continue praying for us and supporting efforts to bring this challenge to an end,” he explained.
Kemi Badenoch: Nigeria is an Oil Producing Country But Never Had ElectricityThe leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country has not translated into reliable electricity for its citizens.
Badenoch grew up in Nigeria before returning to the UK as a teenager to continue her studies.
Asked in an interview with The Spectator about how her upbringing in Nigeria shaped her political views, Badenoch said her experiences have hardened her.
“My belief that we need to drill our oil and gas comes from growing up in a country… Nigeria is an oil-producing country, never had electricity,” she said.
“It is very easy to have resources underground, but stupid public policy means that you can’t use it.”
She likened policies formulated by Ed Miliband, UK secretary of state for energy security and net zero, to the leadership of Nigerian heads of state before democracy.
“And I see quite a lot of what Ed Miliband is doing as being very much like what the Nigerian military dictatorships were doing in the 80s and 90s — ‘the government is going to take control, we know what’s best, we’re going to redistribute’. Stupid ideas which eventually just bankrupt the country,” she said.
Badenoch said she does not want Britain to become a “third-world country” like Nigeria.
“Fundamentally, my views about how we should run our country come from growing up in a place that was very poor. You grow up in a third-world country and you look at why it is termed ‘third world,’ and I don’t want that to happen here,” she said.
The politician added that the UK, alongside its history and wealth, is always taken for granted, and called for a revival of “British culture”.
