A United States lawmaker has leveled explosive allegations against Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, accusing the official of attempting to use bribery to stifle international oversight and scrutiny.
Matawalle was accused by Kimberly Daniels, member of the Florida House of Representatives and Chairwoman of the United World Congress of Diplomats (UN-WCD), that he was attempting to bribe an American elected official to suppress international scrutiny over ongoing killings in some parts of Nigeria.
Daniels further claimed that she has come under pressure from individuals she linked to the Minister, including what she characterised as attempts to discredit her report and “buy support” from US-based elected officials.
She further claimed that an unnamed American lawmaker allegedly received an offer of financial inducement to publicly counter her position and defend the Nigerian defence leadership.
She also claimed to have received evidence of a communication, including a promotional material, purportedly linked to the minister, stressing that the bribery attempt is meant to divide American elected officials not knowing that they are united.
According to her, “I don’t know anybody and I am not working for anybody. I also believe that the accused is innocent until he is proven guilty. But we are insisting that Matawalle be investigated. I found out something lately, Matawalle blew my mind. I got a phone call and they told me that he allegedly claimed that the things I said through investigation is not true.
“I said if it is not true, why do you have to pay somebody that you don’t even know to fight for you? This man, an elected official, told me that he was offered money by the same man to defend why he is good for the position to counter what I am saying.
“But the devil is a liar. Why should he make the offer to the elected officer who will just take your money. He told him that he will give him any amount of money that he wants and this is what the elected official told me. Do you need an American to counter what I am saying but your money will perish with you because you have got this wrong one.
“I am not trying to fight with Nigeria, and not with the government. I was only leading my group asking for mercy over what the people were saying. You cannot bribe people and try to pay an American money to make you look good even when you didn’t even know him.
“I am going to repeat in calling you incompetent, I believe you are crooked. I thought you would accuse me of slander but I got a whole lot of evidence backed up before I came up with all those things. We can prove line by line that you did all that.
“There are allegations that he is taking money from the terrorist people and housing them. We did a press release and I expect the President of Nigeria to investigate the allegations,” she said on the trending clip.
All attempts to get the reactions of the Minister through Henshaw Ogubike, the Director of Information, Press and Public Relations at the Nigerian Ministry of Defence through telephone calls and text message for reaction proved abortive as he did not respond to any of them.
The controversy follows an earlier report released on April 14, 2026, by Daniels in her capacity as head of the UN-WCD, in which she raised concerns over the escalating wave of violence in Nigeria’s North Central and North West regions.
The report, which referenced attacks during the Easter period in states including Plateau, Kaduna and Nasarawa, highlighted what it described as increasing insecurity and alleged gaps between government assurances and realities on the ground.
It further questioned the continued leadership of the defence ministry under Matawalle, citing what it termed “credibility and integrity concerns,” including allegations of complicity with armed groups during his tenure as governor of Zamfara State.
The document recommended a review of Nigeria’s security leadership, calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to initiate reforms, including a possible redeployment of the minister and a transparent investigation into the allegations.
Daniels, during her broadcast, maintained that her intervention was based on testimonies from affected communities, members of the Nigerian diaspora, and findings from the UN-WCD’s multinational network, which spans the United States, Nigeria, Ghana, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
She insisted that her actions were driven by humanitarian concerns and advocacy for vulnerable populations, particularly rural communities affected by recurring violence.
“I am speaking on behalf of people who say they are under attack,” she stated, adding that her call was for investigation rather than accusation.
The lawmaker also dismissed attempts to intimidate or silence her, asserting her constitutional right to speak on international human rights issues as an elected official, warning that “I cannot be intimidated with bribery
The allegations come amid renewed global attention on insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in agrarian communities where attacks have persisted despite government assurances and military operations.
However, the unfolding dispute signals a potential escalation in narratives surrounding Nigeria’s security crisis.
