Replace Ribadu with ex-military officer as NSA – Senator urges Tinubu

The lawmaker representing Osun East in the Senate, Francis Fadahunsi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to further reorganise the nation’s security management team by appointing a retired military officer as the National Security Adviser.

He advised the President to redeploy the current NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to another area of national service where his competence would be better utilised.

Fadahunsi made the call in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Segun-Progress, and obtained in Osogbo on Tuesday.

PUNCH Online reports that the senator had earlier demanded a comprehensive reorganisation of the country’s military architecture.

In a short video of his contribution during plenary, obtained by our correspondent, Fadahunsi said, “The Minister of Defence is not a soldier or a retired general. The Minister of State, all of them are businessmen. The NSA is a retired policeman.

“Do you know that these soldiers call us— even those carrying superior guns than theirs—‘bloody civilians’? And that is what is affecting us.

“The Commander-in-Chief needs to look at the military architecture around him and do the needful. If not, we will continue to waste money because they will not take orders from any other person other than their own general.”

Reacting to the resignation of the former Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, and the nomination of former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Chris Musa (retd.), as Defence Minister-designate, Fadahunsi, an APC lawmaker, commended the development.

He, however, urged Tinubu to go a step further by “replacing the current National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, with a retired military officer for a more efficient coordination of the fight against bandits and other violent criminals.”

He added, “The current NSA should be moved to his area of core competence, where his skill can be better put to use.

“Those in charge of the defence architecture of the country have done their best, but it is necessary at this point to allow people with military backgrounds to come into the system and run with the President’s vision.”(Punch)