NIA DG: National Security Adviser targets Nigerians violating intelligence secrecy

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has vowed to expose persons making false claims about the intelligence community.

The spokesman, Zakari Usman, condemned their action in a statement at the weekend.

NSA Babagana Monguno noted that the appointment and tenure of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director General was at the prerogative of the sitting President.

Usman said it was guided by provisions of the instrument establishing the agency under the National Security Agencies Act 1986 (Cap 278 LFN).

The government maintained that the appointment of Ahmed Abubakar as DG was in compliance with the law.

Monguno said comments credited to unnamed NIA directors that he told the National Assembly he was unaware of Abubakar’s appointment in 2018 was untrue.

In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari in December, the officials were quoted as noting that Abubakar left service in 2012, six years before he was named DG.

“He was compulsorily retired after failing his promotion examinations, from Deputy Director to Director, three (3) times consecutively.

“This appointment brought a kind of a very odd and awkward relationship between the DG and directors”, it read.

But the NSA recalled that a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang dismissed a suit challenging the designation.