Senators approve General Musa as defence minister after five hour grilling on security

NIGERIA'S senate has confirmed the former chief of defence staff retired General Christopher Musa as the new defence minister today following a five-hour grilling during which he was challenged on the grave security situation facing the country.

Yesterday, President Bola Tinubu forwarded the name of General Musa to the Senate as his nominee for the position of defence minister following the abrupt resignation of the incumbent Mohammed Badaru earlier in the week. In a surprise development, Mr Badaru, the former Jigawa State governor resigned from office, citing ill-health as the reason why he was leaving.

Given the grave nature of the security situation in the country, President Tinubu had to act swiftly to fill the position, so he nominated General Musa who was only retired from active military duty in October. Nigeria's constitution stipulates that all ministerial nominees must be cleared by the senate before they can assume office and now that this has happened, General Musa can be sworn-in.

It had been suggested that given his military background, General Musa should just take a bow and be approved but this proposal was rejected by senators. Nigeria is currently wracked with insecurity as armed bandits are kidnapping boarding school students on a daily basis, so lawmakers wanted to know what General Musa would do to address the matter.

In his letter to the senate, President Tinubu had expressed confidence in General Musa’s capacity to lead the defence ministry and strengthen Nigeria’s security framework. After the confirmation, it is expected that the new minister will assume office this week, with his first task being addressing the rising spate of banditry across Nigeria.