A pro-democracy group, Movement for National Patriotism (MNP), has queried the role of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, in the current ordeal of the Chief of Naval Staff, Emmanuel Ogalla, saying his hands were not clean.
The group, in a statement by its President, Farouq Abdullahi and Secretary, Olayemi Soetan, contended that from the moment the story was published, Matawalle’s body language had given him away as the key insider, who knew more than anyone else in the allegations.
According to the group, which said it was not going to pretend that there was no love lost between Bello and Ogalla except for the pretence they often put up in the public for the optics, its personal findings had shown that the minister might be culpable.
“Isn’t it strange that the minister had refused to first explore internal mechanisms to check the veracity of the very terrible and damaging claims by the dubious online news portal before expressly endorsing an investigation not authorised by the president.
“How does one educate this double-faced minister that the approach to security matters is usually and always completely different from the hotch-potch manner in which political concerns are handled, especially in this part of the world.
“Otherwise, how do you explain the fact that an online newspaper with reputation crisis wrote a story indicting the naval chief and immediately, you as the junior supervisory minister had endorsed an investigation, suggesting you shared their claims? Investigation authorised by who?
“Was it any surprise that no credible online newspaper or their traditional peers gave the demonic fabrication a second look until the Navy and other patriotic Nigerians stepped in to set the record straight and undo the obvious lies.
“Is it any wonder why this same man was unable to manage a whole state and had to lose it to the opposition? This current development explains the reasons without mistaking the facts. It’s clearly a function of leadership and capacity.
“If it has become a sin that a professional military officer in the cadre of the naval chief has refused to give up his authority at the Navy for prebendal politics, then, why put him there in the first place. Or is this because Ogalla is from a certain part of the country and does not speak the minister’s language?
“Alhaji Matawalle, need we say this has kicked-off too early, and coming at a time the nation is going through intense security challenges, your disposition clearly betrays emotional intelligence and exposes the push for personal gratification, contrary to the nation’s collective interest,” the group concluded.
