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Tinubu (sitting)Minister of Defence· 21 August 2023 — sitting

Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar

Civilian Defence Minister. Former Governor of Jigawa State (2015–2023).

The record

Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (b. 23 June 1962, Babura, Jigawa State) was Governor of Jigawa from 2015 to 2023. He is one of the few civilians to hold the substantive Defence portfolio in the Fourth Republic.

His tenure has overseen Operation Hadin Kai in the North-East, the renewed offensive against ISWAP in the Lake Chad Basin, and the contested response to the Plateau Christmas Eve 2023 attacks that killed over 200 villagers.

Sources

  • Federal Ministry of Defence — 2024 Ministerial Briefing
  • Amnesty International, Nigeria: Plateau attacks (January 2024)
Methodology

Tier 1 · primary

Courts. Gazettes. National archives.

Tier 2 · corroborating

OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.

Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged

Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.