The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which recently had a change of leadership has expressed its dire concerns over the situation.
Urging the House of Representatives Committee on Security and National Intelligence in a letter to intervene and stop the change of leadership and remove Mr. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, the newly appointed Director General of the agency.
The letter was co-signed by EO Olanrewaju, Nelson Obiakor and Ahmed Sarki ( not real names) on behalf of a group named Concerned Directors of NIA on January 29th. According to the letter the appointment of Mr. Abubakar is a threat to unity in the agency. As Mr. Abubakar is the first head of the agency to be appointed from a rank below that of a director.
“Since its inception 32 years ago, nobody below the rank of a director has been appointed as its head. This explains why we regard the recent appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, a man who is on record to have failed to merit elevation to the rank of director and who has retired from service to come and preside over people who are not only his seniors in rank but who fit into the order of precedence,” the letter read
The directors argued that Mr Abubakar’s appointment as DG NIA will set a dangerous precedence.
“While we are aware that part of the new DG’s agenda is to retire those of us who are his seniors, as it is more likely that he may not want to work with us, it is evident that he will pursue a vendetta mission, which he has already indicated in his very first address to us. He is at liberty to go ahead with what we know he intends to do, 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.”
They warned that the country’s already suffering security system could be worsened if not attended to diligently by the new DG NIA. The letter also said Mr. Abubakar’s inability to work with those of them still in service and with better credentials would weaken the effectiveness of the NIA.
“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,” said the directors.
They asked the House to investigate Mr. Abubakar’s nationality. Furthermore any appointment to such a high position must be vetted from inception.
“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.
It is necessary for us to alert that, the issue of likely doubtful loyalty is a serious issue in intelligence corridors. Where a person’s nationality or that of his spouse becomes unclear, a thorough vetting from the cradle become even more demanding.
In this case, it is very dangerous that the vetting process has been compromised, which is an ominous danger to the nation’s security,” argued the directors.
They asked that the House Committee investigate the activities of the Mr. Babagana Kingibe-led Presidential Review Panel as they relate to Mr. 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 Mr. Ayo Oke, who was the former Director General. As he had threatened to expose beneficiaries of his time in office in the event of any attempt to disgrace him. The directors further stated that the motive is to ensure that the remaining $44 million of the NIA intervention fund is kept within the reach of the powermongers.
“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 revealed that the Clandestine Operations Unit of the NIA is to produce and clone documents to defend Mr. Abubakar against the legitimacy crisis he is facing.