Following the cabinet reshuffling, the Presidency has explained why President Bola Tinubu refused to dismiss the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle amid allegations of sponsoring banditry.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the allegations against Matawalle were false and mere fabrications.

Onanuga noted that the president has heard the allegations of Matawalle sponsoring bandits but such claims are not true.

Matawalle and Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State have been making accusations and counter-accusations against each other over the sponsorship of terrorism in the state.

In a bid to clear his name, Matawalle challenged Governor Lawal to swear with the Quran that he was not involved in banditry activities in the state.

Amid these claims, Tinubu had reshuffled his cabinet with the removal of some ministers and the appointment of seven others.

However, appearing on Arise TV, the presidential spokesman emphasised that the office of the National Security Adviser investigated the Minister and found the claims to be false.

According to Onanuga: “As far as I know, most of those things are just mere allegations. I think in one of them, I got something like that I sent to the NSA, I said have you heard about this?

“And he said no, we have proved a lot to those things that they are not correct, they are not true. People are just bringing out all kinds of fake things and allegations about someone.

And that is why the man is there. Even the President has heard so many stories about him. For him to be there, shows like I said, some of those things have been probed, and they are found not to be true.”