The Senate on Thursday cautioned the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, against making public statements that appear to pitch the National Assembly against Tinubu’s administration, particularly on the worsening security crisis in the country.
The warning was issued during plenary, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele condemning Badaru’s recent comments which dismissed the Senate’s proposed national security summit as irrelevant.
Badaru, speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, argued that Nigeria’s military forces are already superior to insurgents and suggested that the Senate’s two-day security summit was unnecessary. He acknowledged that such meetings might offer ideas but insisted they could not replace concrete military tactics.
Akpabio, visibly displeased, described Badaru’s remarks as dismissive and ill-considered, warning that public criticism of Senate resolutions could stoke tensions rather than addressing the escalating insecurity nationwide. “If the defence has any issue with any resolution of the Senate, it shouldn’t do so in the market. It should get in touch with the Senate president or the Senate elders. I think I’m speaking our mind. It should get in touch with us, not to go and speak in the open.
It will amount to executive, legislative brohaha. So we will pick that up at the appropriate time. So I thank all my colleagues, most especially the credit goes to the 10th Senate for remaining focused,” Akpabio said.
Bamidele echoed similar frustration, saying that Badaru’s outburst undermines the collective responsibility of both arms of government to work towards solutions that benefit Nigerians. “I was elected into office to be criticised. We are not opposed to that. But when people falsify things about us or deliberately try to call us out, I don’t know what to do. Mr President, the task of all these bills we have just passed is a great example of how we work. It is almost 7 p.m. now.
READ MORE: Our Work is in Interest of Nigerians, Akpabio Says as Senate Passes Remaining Two Tax Reform Bills
We are focused on what we are going to spend the rest of our time here doing. That’s why, listening to the Minister of Defence yesterday, describing as unnecessary our resolution to hold a national security summit, I thought that was funny. My only message to him is that it is a resolved national security summit. Some summits in the past did not go very far. So if the minister in charge would even think of us as elected representatives, didn’t need to hold this summit, then I’m concerned,” Bamidele stated.
Both Akpabio and Bamidele stressed that rather than ridiculing legislative interventions, the Defence Ministry should collaborate with lawmakers to tackle insecurity, which continues to worsen under Tinubu’s watch.
Follow the Parallel Facts channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCQSAoHgZWiDjR3Kn2E
