The Minister of State for Defence, Mr Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has called on the people appointed by President Bola Tinubu into his administration from the North, to stand up and defend the government from what he called "intimidation and misrepresentation of the efforts and achievements".
"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," he insisted. "This is not the time to keep quiet in the face of intimidation and misrepresentation of the efforts and achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu."
Matawalle made the call in a statement issued on Monday, in reaction to Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed’s attack on the administration of President Tinubu,” which the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Mr Bayo Onanuga shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
"Consequent to my position on the recent attack on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR by a spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), it has come to my attention that Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who once served as the Spokesperson of the group and currently a Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Presidency took to his page on it to express a different position.
"According to Dr. Baba-Ahmed, my stand against the unjust and spurious attack against the new administration of President Tinubu that is working very hard to reposition our country and economy for better as 'ill-advised'.
"He suggested I could have done a better job in my defence of the administration where I have the rare honour to serve as a Minister," the statement noted. "Dr. Baba-Ahmed's relationship and affinity with Northern Elders' Forum (NEF) is well-known".
The minister, who was the governor of Zamfara State between 2019 and 2023, stated that “he (Dr. Baba-Ahmed) is an appointee of the administration as Special Adviser and it is incumbent on him to work for the success of the government he is part of, protect and defend the government against unjust and vicious attacks from those who hide under ethnic and other primordial interests to heat up the polity for myopic reasons."
Matawalle said, "It is pertinent to state that every appointee of President Tinubu including Dr. Baba-Ahmed owes 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 Tinubu GCFR.
"We must stand up to be counted for being on the part of government or take our exit."