Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has resigned with immediate effect for health reasons, the presidency announced on Tuesday.
His departure comes at a time of mounting security turmoil across Africa’s most populous nation, where the government is under intense pressure to respond to a string of mass abductions.
The UN human rights office reported last week that at least 402 people, most of them schoolchildren, have been kidnapped since mid-November.
In the latest incidents, gunmen abducted at least 20 people in northern Nigeria on Sunday, including a Christian pastor, as well as a Muslim bride and her bridesmaids, in two separate attacks.
Around 250 pupils and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in central Niger state are still missing after what is believed to be the largest single kidnapping in recent weeks.
Authorities have yet to clearly identify who is behind the attacks. Many analysts attribute the abductions to criminal gangs seeking ransom, but a presidential spokesman told the BBC that the government suspects jihadist groups are involved.
Abubakar, 63, was appointed defence minister in August 2023. The presidency did not disclose the nature of his health problems, but said he had written to President Bola Tinubu to tender his resignation.
Tinubu’s office said the president had accepted the decision and thanked Abubakar for his “services to the nation”.
The statement also stressed that Tinubu has declared a national security emergency and plans to reinforce the overstretched security apparatus, including a move to increase police strength to about 50,000 officers by recruiting some 20,000 more personnel.
Nigeria is grappling with overlapping security crises: ransom kidnappings by armed gangs, a long-running Islamist insurgency in the north-east, separatist unrest in the south-east, and deadly clashes between farmers and herders in central regions over land and water.
A two-term governor of the northern Jigawa state between 2015 and 2023, Abubakar was a key ally in Tinubu’s 2023 presidential bid, helping deliver Jigawa for the ruling party. He was awarded the defence portfolio after Tinubu took office.
According to the presidency, Tinubu is expected to notify the Senate of Abubakar’s replacement later this week.