Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has said that allegations levelled against the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, about sponsoring the activities of bandits are false.
The presidential media aide made the disclosure on Wednesday during an appearance on Arise TV where he was asked why President Tinubu retained Matawalle in his cabinet after the reshuffle in which some Ministers were relieved of their duties.
Responding, Onanuga acknowledged that many stories were flying around alleging Matawalle’s involvement in sponsoring insecurity in Zamfara State.
He added that some of the stories have even gotten to the ears of President Tinubu.
Onanuga, however, added that the stories and allegations have been investigated by the office of the National Security Adviser and found to be false.
To this end, the presidential aide submitted that Matawalle has a clean bill of health and is fit to perform his duties.
“As far as I know, most of those things are just mere allegations. I think in one of them, I got something like that I sent to the NSA, I said have you heard about this? and he said no, we have proved a lot to those things that they are not correct, they are not true. People are just bringing out all kinds of fake things and allegations about someone.
“And that is why the man is there. Even the President has heard so many stories about him. For him to be there, shows like I said, some of those things have been probed, and they are found not to be true,
” Onanuga said in response to the question of why Tinubu didn’t dismiss Matawalle in his cabinet reshuffle.
Recall that the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle and the Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, have, at various times, openly accused each other of sponsoring bandits.
