Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has dismissed allegations that he is not handling the country’s diplomatic affairs effectively.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa, Tuggar said he should not be held responsible for military coups that took place in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Tuggar stressed that he and President Bola Tinubu were not in office when the coups took place.

Tuggar was specifically responding to Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who recently accused him of falling short in his ministerial role.

Bala, in an interview with BBC Hausa service, faulted the government’s handling of the military coups in some neighbouring West African counties, asking the minister to focus more on correcting his mistakes rather than attacking him.

Tuggar had earlier accused governor Bala of mismanaging the state’s funds, citing that the state had in October and November last year received over N8.8 billion and N9 billion, respectively, but “there was nothing to show on ground in the state.”

Dismissing allegations on underperformance in his ministerial role, however, Tuggar said, “First, the military takeover in Mali took place in 2021, and that was before President Tinubu came to power. I also wasn’t occupying this office at the time.

“The president wasn’t in power when the military took over in Burkina Faso. And I wasn’t a minister during the coup in Niger Republic.

“How could you then buck the blame on me? Was I the one who engineered the coup?”