{"id":880497,"date":"2025-12-25T01:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/25\/analyst-faults-alleged-claims-against-defence-minister-cautions-against-ethnicising-security\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T01:13:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:13:16","slug":"analyst-faults-alleged-claims-against-defence-minister-cautions-against-ethnicising-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/25\/analyst-faults-alleged-claims-against-defence-minister-cautions-against-ethnicising-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Faults Alleged Claims Against Defence Minister, Cautions Against Ethnicising Security"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

News Investigators\/ A public affairs analyst, Mr Edward Auta, has faulted an\u00a0 statement credited to Yusuf Usman, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), over an alleged plan by the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, to wage war against the Fulani people.<\/p>\n

Mr Auta, a historian and a Public Analyst from Kaduna State, made this known on Sunday in a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna.<\/p>\n

Prof. Usman had reportedly claimed that there was \u201ca plan to wage war against the Fulani people,\u201d which he allegedly rejected on the grounds that it would amount to targeting an ethnic group rather than addressing insecurity.<\/p>\n

Mr Auta described the reported comments as misleading, divisive and capable of inciting ethnic tension, adding that at no point had Musa, the Ministry of Defence or the Federal Government threatened to wage war against any ethnic group.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMr Musa, both as Chief of Defence Staff and now as Defence Minister, had consistently maintained that the Nigerian state must deploy lawful force against enemies of the state, irrespective of ethnic or religious identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis security posture has contributed to notable improvements in national security and has earned widespread acceptance among Nigerians across ethnic and religious lines, including Fulani communities and respected northern leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

He questioned whether Prof. Usman\u2019s remarks implied that insecurity in the North was being framed as a \u201cFulani agenda\u201d, warning that such a narrative dangerously ethnicises criminality and undermines national cohesion.<\/p>\n

Mr Auta also queried whether the comments demonstrated the level of patriotism and commitment expected in supporting the current administration\u2019s efforts to end over a decade of insecurity, or whether they suggested sympathy for bandits and other non-state armed actors.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cRecall that under previous years, vast parts of the North became theatres of bloodshed, highways were converted into kidnapping corridors, and millions were displaced, but the narrative has begun to change under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince June 2023, several notorious bandit commanders have been neutralised, while hundreds of communities previously displaced or held captive have been liberated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Auta said President Bola Tinubu\u2019s declaration that all armed non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists, aligned with Gen. Musa\u2019s long-standing security philosophy.<\/p>\n

He added that the president\u2019s assurance that those who perpetrate, finance or facilitate violence will be pursued, resonated with the wishes and aspirations of the majority of Nigerians.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny attempt to portray decisive security action as an attack on a particular ethnic group amounts to appeasement of criminal elements and poses a grave threat to national security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Auta, however, urged that both serving and former public officials should exercise restraint and avoid reckless statements capable of undermining government policy or inflaming ethnic sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who openly or indirectly sympathise with terrorists or bandits should either realign with national objectives or be made to face the full consequences of the law as security must be driven by national interest, not sentiment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NAN<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Editor
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Investigators\/ A public affairs analyst, Mr Edward Auta, has faulted an\u00a0 statement credited to Yusuf Usman, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), over an alleged plan by the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, to wage war against the Fulani people. Mr Auta, a historian and a Public Analyst from Kaduna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":880498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1877,23380],"tags":[5476,6518],"class_list":{"0":"post-880497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-against","8":"category-analyst","9":"tag-against","10":"tag-analyst"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}