Some directors in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have petitioned the House of Reps to remove the new director-general President Muhammadu Buhari just appointed.
The petitioned Dated January 29 and co-signed by EO Olanrewaju, Nelson Obiakor and Ahmed Sarki ( not real names) on behalf of a group named Concerned Directors of NIA, said the appointment of Mr. Abubakar is a threat to cohesion in the agency.
“Since its inception 32 years ago , nobody below the rank of a director has been appointed as its head,” the letter stated.
The group alleged the new DG is planning to retire those who are his seniors since he may not want to work with them.
“But we wish to point out the underlying dangers in a massive purge of senior officers of the agency, to the effect that, not only will the millions of dollars spent on training and retraining us be lost, we are also custodians of the country’s intelligence dossiers, and may decide to use same for mischief,” said the directors.
They urge the presidency to appoint a serving director who understands the dynamics of the agency.
“Having failed promotion examinations to the directorship rank, which we can attest to and make bold to state that it amounts to administrative suicide to allow a practical misfit take over the agency and later mortgage same to his paymasters, who have ulterior motives.”
They requested the House to investigate Mr. Abubakar’s nationality.
“Since the government, itself admitted that Mr Abubakar was born and bred in Chad, while on the other hand, he claims to have been born in Nigeria; at least going by his the records and his CV, suffice it to point out that there is an obvious contradiction. We call upon this honorable body to thoroughly look into this seeming discrepancy,” they requested.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that Mr. Abubakar’s links with Chad, a country with likely rival interest with Nigeria, makes him suspect as an espionage and not fit to head the country’s elite intelligence agency.”
They however noted that the vetting process that ntially cleared the DG had been compromised, which is an ominous danger to the nation’s security,” argued the directors.
The equally requested the House Committee to investigate the activities of the Mr. Babagana Kingibe-led Presidential Review Panel as with respect to Abubakar’s appointment.
“It is very curious that paragraph 4(1) of the recommendations of the Kingibe panel prescribes that a serving director should be picked as the Director-General, only for the same characters that sat in judgement over the need to reorganize the NIA, turning around to violate their own recommendations, by picking one of them to contemptuously assume duty as head of the NIA,” the directors said.
They alleged that it was very clear from the start that the Presidential Review Panel was inaugurated purposely to protect the former DG, Mr. Ayo Oke, who has repeatedly threatened to expose beneficiaries of his time in office if there is an attempt to disgrace him. The angry directors further alleged that the motive is to ensure that the remaining $44 million of the NIA intervention fund is kept within the reach of the cabal.
“The failure of the immediate past Acting DG, Muhammed Dauda, to allow them access to the money may be the reason for his removal,” they reasoned.
The Concerned Directors also disclosed that the Clandestine Operations Unit of the NIA has been ordered to manufacture and clone documents that could be used to defend Abubakar against the legitimacy crisis he is facing.
The petition is coming days after the presidency justified the appointment of Abubakar.
A press release by Buhari’s media aide Femi Adesina clarified the allegations one after the other, capping it with the fact that Buhari has worked with Abubakara for two years, and the president believes the DG is capable enough to head the agency.
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