Senator Francis Fadahunsi of Osun East has urged President Bola Tinubu to appoint a retired military officer as the National Security Adviser (NSA), saying it would strengthen the nation’s security management.
He also recommended that the current NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, be redeployed to a role where his skills could be better utilized.
The lawmaker stressed that the current structure of Nigeria’s defence and security leadership lacks military experience at the top.
He pointed out that neither the Defence Minister nor the Minister of State for Defence is a retired military officer, while the NSA is a former police official.
According to Fadahunsi, this arrangement has affected the ability of civilian leadership to command respect from military personnel.
In a contribution during a recent Senate session, Fadahunsi said, “The Minister of Defence is not a soldier or a retired general.
The Minister of State, all of them are businessmen. The NSA is a retired policeman. Do you know that these soldiers call us—even those carrying superior guns than theirs—‘bloody civilians’? And that is what is affecting us.”
He added that the President should ensure that those in charge of the country’s defence are capable of enforcing orders effectively.
The senator welcomed the resignation of the former Defence Minister, Mohammed Badaru, and praised the nomination of retired General Chris Musa as Defence Minister-designate.
However, he argued that President Tinubu should go a step further by replacing Ribadu with a retired military officer.
“Those in charge of the defence architecture of the country have done their best, but it is necessary at this point to allow people with military backgrounds to come into the system and run with the President’s vision,” Fadahunsi said.
He emphasized that Ribadu’s talents could be better deployed in a position that aligns with his experience and core competencies.
The senator believes this adjustment would improve coordination in tackling banditry, insurgency, and violent crime across the country.
In a related development, President Tinubu recently nominated retired General Chris Musa as Defence Minister, signaling a shift towards integrating more military-experienced leaders into top security roles.
General Dambazau is the right candidate for NSA.
He has no business being there watching the disasters unfold.I hope he is not being compensated with the blood of innocent Nigerians.They should get war hardened general as the NSA and get us out of this quagmire.Enough of this huge joke ! A retired Nigerian police officer should be on the sideline when discussing a war situation .We should not forget that Nigeria Police is part of this problem.
I support the call for the replacement of NSA Nuhu Ribadu and in addition, the removal of Bello Matawalle,
Minister of State for Defence, for their roles in providing soft landing to terrorists. If both are in the system, they would cause significant breach and leakage of information to terrorists and bandits. Moreover, Ribadu has been rumored to have played a major role in the removal of General CG Musa as Chief of Defence Staff, for his stance on kinetic approach in dealing with terrorism. While, Ribadu, Matawalle, Badaru and VP Shettima favour the non-kinetic modus operandi.
For Matawalle, it was an error that he was made a minister. A GCE O’ Level Certificate holder, that is grossly incompetent. His 4 years as Governor of Zamfara, was for pacification of bandits and terrorists.
Ribadu is just but sleeping or his skills are not really utilise here properly,he should be giving another post if possible…
#NigeriaNeedStrongMenWithExperienceAndTruthfulness
How did the Nigeria police be part of this problem?When one is hated,one is hated even with passion. The Nigeria police is trying its best but they are not being given what it takes to wage war against this internal insecurity,most of their patrol vehicles are fueled by the men on patrol, maintenance and other things to keep the vehicle active for usage is done by the men on patrol,is it supposed to be like that? My brother, let’s call a spade a spade, government of the federal republic of Nigeria has not been fair to the Nigeria police Force that’s why most of the people that don’t know how they suffer to fight this insecurity can tag them weak, curropt and even worst than that. Nigeria police is an institution facing alots of challenges ranging from inter to intra rivalry,if you want to blame the institution do something better for them and see how how they perform beyond expectations before laying blame on them. Remember,to whom much is given,much is equally expected. Thanks sir!
I think this logic is wrong. Munguno was Buhari’s NSA. What did they achieve? Sambo Dasuki was Jonathan’s NSA yet everything was haywire. Abacha’s NSA was a rtd police officer, very effective and feared. Fadahunsi is suffering low self esteem and people like him are jumping on it. Being a core police officer is adequate except there are other factors. All this type of talk is irrelevant pls