Mohammed Badaru Resigns As Defence Minister, Christopher Musa Tipped To Replace Him

The letter landed like a dud grenade on December 1.

“Due to health concerns, I hereby tender my resignation as Minister of Defence with immediate effect.” Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, the two-term Jigawa governor turned security chief, signed it off in neat script—dated, sealed, and sent to President Bola Tinubu‘s desk.

By evening, Bayo Onanuga, the presidential spin doctor, confirmed it: accepted, appreciated, and adios.

Badaru, 63, steps down 16 months after Tinubu handed him the keys in August 2023, amid a national security emergency declaration that reeks of desperation. But the timing? Razor-sharp.

It came hours after Badaru‘s BBC interview went viral like a rebel broadcast. “We know where the terrorists are in the forests,” he admitted, voice steady but eyes weary. “But bombs cannot penetrate the forest to eliminate them.”

The clip exploded on social media—Nigerians splicing it with clips of schoolgirls vanishing into Sambisa, herders clashing in Plateau, bandits taxing Plateau markets like feudal lords. “So what now, Minister? Prayers?” one user snarled.

Another: “Health concerns or hot seat?” The forests laughed back—impenetrable, unbowed, swallowing lives while the brass debates delivery systems. Enter the ghost in green.

At 7:03 p.m., as Badaru‘s ink dried, General Christopher Gwabin Musa (retd.) glided through Aso Rock’s gates. Sokoto-born, battle-hardened, the ex-Chief of Defence Staff—booted out in October amid whispers of a foiled coup plot—donned a flowing green kaftan, the colour of hope or hazard lights, depending on your cynicism.

Led by a stone-faced security aide, he vanished into Tinubu‘s inner sanctum. Their first face-to-face since the retirement axe fell. Analysts aren’t guessing anymore. “Musa’s the heir,” a top source leaked to Sahara Reporters.

Channels TV echoed it: closed doors, security briefings, the works. Punch spotted him at the gate; Daily Nigerian called it a done deal.

If confirmed—and Tinubu’s Senate nod is expected this week—Musa slides into the hot seat, his old deputy, Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede (now CDS), reporting up the chain like a prodigal son.

Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence and ex-Zamfara firebrand, falls in line too. Social media lit up with dark jokes: “Bello‘s health concerns loading,” one quipped, nodding to the “sudden ailments” that felled predecessors.

Badaru‘s exit marks the third “health” casualty in Tinubu‘s cabinet. First, Ajuri Ngelale, the media czar, bowed out in September, citing family illness. Then Abdullahi Umar Ganduje‘s deputy, whispering of burnout.

Now this. Coincidence? Or the polite Nigerian way of saying “the job’s a meat grinder“? Nigerians aren’t buying the quiet handover.

Badaru‘s CV—accountant, farmer, clerk, teacher—screams political favour, not foxhole grit. “Zero security experience,” critics howl on social media, demanding credentials over cronies.

“Appoint warriors, not wallet-keepers,” one analyst thundered in Vanguard.

As Kebbi classrooms empty and Kwara mosques mourn, the plea rings louder: merit in the madness. Musa, if he takes the oath, brings scars from Borno’s frontlines, a decade of ops against shadows that bombs can’t touch.

But in a forest where intel flows like quicksand, will one general’s return stem the bleed? Three resignations. One emergency. Forests that laugh at fire from the sky.

When does the real war begin—or has it been lost in the trees all along?