Why Buhari Dropped Ex-Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau

Indications have emerged on why President Muhammadu Buhari did not reappoint the immediate past Minister of Interior, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd).

Dambazau was among the eighteen former ministers that were dropped when President Buhari recently sent 43 names to the Senate for confirmation as new ministers.

THE WHISTLER learnt from a source close to Dambazau that the former minister was dropped after a presidential panel found him guilty of “abuse of office”.

The source said Dambazau, who served as Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) between 2008 and 2010, was also said to have been fingered in the reinstatement scandal of fugitive former pension boss, Abdulrasheed Maina.

Our correspondent also gathered that the former interior minister was not nominated as minister in 2015, but was rather handpicked by President Buhari.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, added that the retired military general did not have the support of the stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State where he hails from, when the President appointed him as minister in 2015.

Prior to President Buhari’s cabinet nomination, THE WHISTLER’s analysis identified Dambazau among eleven ministers who were not deserving of a second term in office.

The analysis showed that the former interior minister failed to bring his expertise on internal security to bare as the country grappled with security challenges in the North East and North Central during Buhari’s first term.