Some aggrieved directors of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, have written a letter to the House of Representatives’ Committee investigating the recent leadership change in the elite spy organization
President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 10, 2010 appointed his former Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Abubakar, as the new Director-General of the NIA.
His appointment generated ripples in the country with some officials of the NIA criticising the decision to bring in “an outsider” as amounting to destroying discipline and the operations of the agency.
According to PremiumTimes, the appointment of Abubakar was in disregard of the recommendation of the Presidential Review Panel on the NIA, headed by Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, former secretary to Government of the Federation SGF.
The panel had recommended that a new DG be appointed from the “corps of serving directors” of the agency.
But the Presidency acted otherwise and picked Abubakar for the office.
Consequently, the Lower House on January 16, 2018 mandated its Committee on Security and National Intelligence to probe the appointment of the new DG, and the alleged disappearance of $44 million from the agency’s coffers.
In an open letter to the committee, dated January 29, 2018, three directors of the agency, writing under pseudonyms, said that the plan by Abubakar to sack some senior officials of the agency would be unhealthy for the country’s security.
The new DG’s relationship with Chad, which the directors say is not fully unravelled, is also identified as a possible avenue for security breach.
“As insiders, we are in a position to state that, the process of vetting in respect of the new NIA DG negates conventional practice, as nobody has visited Chad where he claims to have grown up and schooled to probe into his differential associates, or even his likely espionage roles.”
The affected directors also prayed the committee to probe the activities of the Kingibe panel, alleging financial impropriety against it.
