Numerous pro-democracy demonstrators marched to the National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, calling for Bello Matawalle, the Minister of Defence, to be fired.
At the facility, demonstrators held banners with various slogans, including “Our defence budget not in safe hands” and “Sack Bello Matawalle now,” and they sang songs of support.
News About Nigeria gathered that the minister was charged by the activists working under the auspices of the Civil Society Advocacy Groups for Accountability and Probity with, among other things, “romancing bandits” and being accountable for the destruction of property valued at billions of naira as well as the deaths of people in the country’s north.
Group leader Danesi Momoh addressed reporters in front of the National Assembly and urged Senate President Godswill Akpabio to put pressure on the President to guarantee Matawalle is fired.
“One of this administration’s major errors was probably giving the Defence portfolio to an ineffective leader. However, it may be fixed if the Senate voices its opinion in that regard, he added.
“We call on the Senate to weigh in to ensure that he is immediately removed to restore some hope in good governance,” he said.
“Let us also assure you that we understand how limited your role may be, but it is critical that you play that role in the national interest.
“We will also put pressure on President Bola Tinubu, at whose table the buck stops, to replace him. All the Senate needs to do is fulfil its role. The Senate should gently ease him out of public office.”
In response to the demonstration, Salihu Abdullahi, Director, Sergeant at Arms, National Assembly, who had accepted the petition on behalf of Akpabio, expressed his delight with the demonstrators’ calm and orderly behaviour and said he would take their complaints to the proper authorities.
