General Christopher Musa met with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday. This was his first public engagement with the President since being retired by Tinubu on October 24, 2025.
Following the resignation of Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar as Minister of Defence, there is mounting pressure on President Tinubu to also remove Bello Matawalle from his position as Minister of State for Defence.
According to sources, the United States had requested the removal of both Badaru Abubakar and Matawalle as a precondition for any collaborative efforts with Nigeria to tackle terrorism and banditry.
“A lot of pressure is on President Tinubu to replace Matawalle as well,” a senior government official said. “The US made it clear that cooperation on security matters would depend on these changes.”
Earlier Monday, reports indicated that Badaru Abubakar stepped down as Defence Minister and that General Musa, a former Chief of Defence Staff, would succeed him, according to government insiders.
During his meeting with the President, sources revealed that Tinubu informed Musa of his appointment to succeed Badaru as the Defence Minister.
In a letter dated December 1 and addressed to President Tinubu, Abubakar cited health reasons for his resignation, a statement from Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, confirmed.
“President Tinubu has accepted the resignation and expressed gratitude to Abubakar for his service to the nation,” the statement added. “The President is expected to notify the Senate of the new Defence Minister later this week.”
Badaru Abubakar, 63, previously served two terms as Governor of Jigawa State from 2015 to 2023 and was appointed Minister of Defence on August 21, 2023.
This development comes shortly after Nigeria was once again designated by the U.S. as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC) due to alleged widespread persecution of Christians. In response, Nigeria sent a high-level delegation led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu to Washington to negotiate cooperation on insecurity and religious freedom issues.
The CPC designation was based on reports of “particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” with U.S. officials and advocacy groups citing mass killings of Christians by extremist organizations, including Boko Haram and ISWAP. Some advocacy groups claim Nigeria has the highest number of targeted Christian deaths globally, labeling it as a form of genocide.
The issue has revived tensions, as Nigeria had previously been listed as a CPC in 2020 but removed in 2021. Nigerian authorities, including President Tinubu, have rejected the genocide claims, insisting they misrepresent the country’s situation
