In what is surely a blow to rhetoric concerning President Muhammad Buhari’s anti-corruption war, it has emerged that a top ally of the President, Baba gana Kingibe allegedly took over $200,000 in bribe from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Some of these monies, according to the immediate past director general of the NIA, went to Kingibe’s girlfriend and foreign trips.
Sahara Reporters revealed that Mohammed Dauda, the immediate past acting director general, in a bombshell memo to the the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, disclosed that he came under immense pressure by Messrs. Babagana Kingibe, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and his protégé and incumbent D-G of the NIA, Mr. Rufai Abubakar, and Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, to steal $44million NIA intervention fund.
This $44 million was a part of the NIA intervention fund released by the Goodluck Jonathan administration prior to the 2015 elections. The money represents a portion not found in Ikoyi apartment after being reported by a whistleblower.
According to Dauda he was pressured by Kingibe and his co-conspirators in the Presidency to loot the funds, after being told that the looting had the blessings of the Presidency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to Dauda, things went on smoothly until Messrs. Kingibe and Abubakar kept pressuring him for money. Mr. Dauda said he explained that the agency’s dollar account was low because of the difficulty in sourcing dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria, following the crises that arose from the Ikoyi money. However, the replied that the $44m in the custody of the Acting DFA belongs to the agency and that the DFA had no power to stop Mr. Dauda from spending the money. They added that since the crisis had blown over, Mr. Dauda should go and tell the Brigadier-General to return to his job. He was advised to write to the National Security Adviser to withdraw him or ask the NIA security department to stop him from entering the premises.
“They kept insisting that they had the mandate of the President and that the President had directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hands off the money and that it was legitimately ours. They verbally queried me on the logic of keeping the money as an exhibit since there was no case pending in court. Ambassador Kingibe told me that he was the one who, through the Chief of Staff, drafted the memo that the President assented to, instructing the EFCC to hands off our case (Ikoyi Gate) just to convince me that there are no more encumbrances on the money,” stated Mr. Dauda.
“They wanted money for medical treatment or holidays abroad for their families and girlfriends. I met and gave a lady simply known to me as Angela from Ambassador Kingibe money twice at the car park of the Hilton Hotel. Once $50,000 and the second time $20,000, which apparently did not impress him…Even the current DG NIA once called me on whatsapp, just like Amb. Kingibe always does, and said that his Oga was traveling to London for medical check-up and he suggested that I should find something for him as a sign of good will. So, I reluctantly gave him $50,000 against my will, a decision that made me sad throughout the day,” he said. He added that Mr. Kingibe collected over $200,000 from him during the time he headed the PRP. Mr. Dauda said he was always using the President’s name to squeeze cash out of the NIA. They also undermined the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Read the full Sahara Reporters report here