Premium News
Former Zamfara State Governor and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has come under intense public scrutiny after a resurfaced video appeared to show him defending the activities of Terrorists and attempting to justify their attacks.
The footage, which has been circulating widely on social media, has sparked outrage among citizens and renewed concerns about the government’s approach to tackling insecurity.
In the video, Matawalle was heard suggesting that bandits were reacting to certain provocations and that their actions were, in part, a response to what he described as “injustices” against them.
Bello Matawalle is all about sympathy for the Islamist militia and no word for the victims.
Yet we keep asking for list of sponsors of terrorism while they are actually occupying sensitive positions in our security architecture.
For a state Minister of Defense to be this openly… pic.twitter.com/9iDadTN6jA
— Zariyi Yusuf (@ZariyiYusufu) December 2, 2025
He implied that the criminal groups had reasons for taking up arms, a position many listeners have described as insensitive, especially given the scale of killings, kidnappings and displacement linked to banditry across the North-West.
Users of social media platform, X formerly called Twitter have questioned the appointment of Matawalle as minister knowing fully well he has some mind for terrorists.
A X user @habszy has this to say on the video; “Tinubu picked such a man with this kind of mindset and gave him a sensitive position like defense is baffling. But then nothing is baffling in this country bcus birds of same feather flocks together”.
@Richminrichie also berated the appointment of Matawalle as minister in charge of such sensitive sector “ With this man as a Minister of Defense,it is easy for the head of a horse to pass the eye of a niddle than for this government to defeat terrorism in Nigeria”.
“We keep asking for list of sponsors of terrorism while they are actually occupying sensitive positions in our security architecture.”This was according to X user, @Its_ereko
READ ALSO: Terrorists Kill Zamfara APC Chieftain Hours After Stakeholders’ Meeting With Tinubu’s Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle
The controversy adds to the growing public demand for a more decisive and transparent approach to addressing insecurity, particularly in states like Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina, where terrorists attacks remain a persistent threat.
