Minister to Northern appointees: Take a stand or exit Tinubu’s government.
The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has told appointees of President Bola Tinubu to take a stand on the position of the Northern Elders Forum criticizing the administration.
The former Governor of Zamfara State said this in a statement he personally signed and made available on Monday.
According to Matawalle, his latest stand stemmed from the reaction to his first statement on the criticism of the President by NEF by a former spokesman of the group, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who is now a Special Adviser in Tinubu’s government.
Baba-Ahmed is the Special Adviser to the President (Political Matters) in the Office of the Vice President.
Matawalle said: “Consequent to my position on the recent attack on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu 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.
“Dr. Baba-Ahmed’s relationship and affinity with Northern Elders’ Forum is well-known. The fact now is that he 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.
“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 Tinubu.
“We must stand up to be counted for being on the part of government or take our exit.”
