Last week former defense minister and ex-governor Badaru Abubakar, stunned the nation with a comment that left jaws on the floor: “Bombs cannot penetrate forests.”
Social media exploded. Headlines screamed in disbelief.
At a time when Nigeria is under attack from insurgents, bandits, and terrorists, one minister’s ignorance became a national embarrassment.
How could someone so unqualified sit atop the nation’s most sensitive security office?
Worse, he didn’t resign voluntarily. No foreign power forced him out.
After a disastrous performance at a global security conference in China, he was simply told: “You’re done.”
Two years of weak leadership, poor decisions, and public ridicule later, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu finally admitted the truth: the appointment was a tactical disaster.
Before president Tinubu formed his cabinet in May 2023, the advice was clear: Nigeria needed a defense minister with battle-tested experience, someone who could command respect from service chiefs, understand military strategy, and lead effectively in a nation at war.
That advice was ignored. Instead, a rookie took charge. One misstep, one gaffe, and the nation nearly paid the price.
Now, a retired general and former chief of defense staff has taken the reins, a move long overdue. Competence is finally at the top. But the ministry of defense itself is hollow, weakened over decades by design.
During the military era, the offices of minister and CDS were deliberately stripped of power to prevent coups, a structure that survives democracy and undermines civilian oversight to this day.
Service chiefs routinely bypass the minister and report straight to the President. Budgets, procurement, strategy, all largely untouched by civilian supervision.
Rumors swirl about ₦1.5 trillion per week wasted and the mythical 17 chiefs of army staff, absurdities that show just how chaotic the system has become.
Even the brightest minister cannot succeed when the office itself is toothless.
The new minister’s past success as CDS relied on thinking outside the box, exploiting loopholes, and working in shadow spaces untouched by powerful service chiefs.
That will be far harder now because the old habit of chiefs going straight to the president remains unchanged. Without structural reform, the ministry risks becoming a house of photo ops and ceremonial titles.
Fixing Nigeria’s defence requires more than a competent individual.
The armed forces act must be amended. The reporting structure enforced: President → minister → CDS → service chiefs.
The ministry must be rebuilt as the true brain of national defence, the hub of strategy, planning, and accountability. Anything less is cosmetic; anything less will not stop insurgents or protect civilians.
Nigeria stands at a dangerous crossroads. Cosmetic fixes and symbolic gestures will not save the nation. The country has the right man in the wrong system.
The president must decide: empower the minister, restructure the armed forces, and restore civilian authority or continue watching incompetence bleed the country dry.
The clock is ticking. Every day the ministry remains weak, insurgents advance, civilians suffer, and Nigeria risks further instability.
History will not remember the uniforms or titles, it will remember the courage or the failure, to fix a broken system.
A strong minister alone is decoration. A strong ministry wins wars. Nigeria now has the right minister.
The president must give him the power to lead or risk repeating decades of mistakes. The stakes could not be higher.
Mogaji Wole Arisekola, publisher of The Street Journal Newspaper, writes from Ibadan.
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