Reports reaching us indicate that the official residence of the ex NIA boss came under siege on Monday evening, as a fallout of ongoing investigations by the EFCC and the House of Representatives over alleged attempts to siphon $44million from the coffers of the NIA allegedly by the trio of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, Abba Kyari and the incumbent NIA DG, Abubakar Rufai Ahmed.

Recall that Ambassador Dauda had in a memo to the EFCC and the House of Reps Committee on National Safety and Intelligence indicted the three aides of President Muhammad Buhari over sundry corrupt tendencies.

His memo seems to have angered Babagana Kingibe who it was reported had threatened to deal with the ex NIA boss, which may have given rise to the invasion on Dauda’s residence.

Attempts to reach Kingibe and Kyari as well as Ambassadors Kingibe and Dauda were not successful, by domestic staffers at Dauda’s residence confirmed that they were still being held hostages in the house.

Our correspondent who visited the area reports that journalists and other onlookers have been sent away from the venue of the drama by the DSS and NIA personnel still keeping vigil at Osaro Close, off Osaro Street, Maitama, Ambassador Dauda’s residence.

Findings reveal that the embattled former Ag. DG had earlier left the house to an unknown destination, shortly before the arrival of the combined operatives.

The post Breaking: Armed stand off at ex-NIA DG’s residence appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko and Zainab Ahmed, its coordinator and media officer respectively stated that after curious review of recent developments at the NIA, HURIWA was convinced that Rufai’s appointment smacks of nepotism, injustice and fraud, given the avalanche of allegations against the man.

According to them, the intrigues and manipulations playing out at the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, were a national embarrassment, as no amount of cover up can hide the fact that Abubakar Rufai Ahmed was the wrong person to be appointed DG of the NIA.

HURIWA accused the President of deliberately ignoring the national outcry from very credible organizations and individuals, including the management staff, Directors and officers of NIA, over the appointment of the new NIA DG, stressing that it made no sense under a regime that tags itself as honest and transparent.

“The President chooses to remain aloof to the general mood of the nation, by refusing to adhere to the overriding public interest and overwhelming public good. While we are not oblivious of the powers conferred on him by the law to make such appointments, we hasten to state that the same law prescribes definite criteria for doing so. The action did not only negate the law, and also a gross contempt of the principles of justice, fairness, honesty”, they stressed.

“It could be recalled that the former Acting Director General of the agency, Ambassador Mohammed Dauda made far reaching revelations to the effect that money was allegedly demanded and collected from him under the guise of Mr President’s directives. And given President Buhari’s known posture over such issues, It will be necessary of him ….(to) muster the moral courage and political will in referring the matter officially to the EFCC for thorough investigation of Babagana Kingibe, Abba Kyari, Abubakar Rufai Ahmed and others mentioned in the former Acting DG’s brief to the National Assembly committee on National safety and Intelligence”, they further stated..

“We are irked by the fact that, if indeed the appointee was a staff of the NIA when he took up permanent and pensionable appointment with the United Nations, it presupposes that he has been found wanting in his ethical and service oaths, and does not merit any public office. Having held two permanent appointments from the NIA and UNAMID at the same time and retired from the two in the same year gives us sufficient grounds to approach the courts for a proper interpretation of the implications of his action, viz-a-viz his appointment as the DG of the NIA”, HURIWA also pointed out.

They foresee “an imminent embarrassment that may eventually and inevitably result in the demolition of this national institution in which the nation has over the years committed huge resources to train manpower and to operationalize its mandates. To put it mildly, Rufai’s appointment poses grave dangers to the nation’s intelligentsia which we, at HURIWA find very traumatizing”.

In passing a vote of no confidence on the National Assembly over the matter, HURIWA also described as callous and a display of nonchalance and unbridled pursuit of pecuniary interests, the yeoman’s job executed poorly by the Federal House of Representatives, particularly with the wishy-washy reports that emanated from that lower chamber of the national parliament, lacking substantially in logic and dominated by half-truths and manufactured justifications.

“We have therefore passed a deserved vote of no confidence on the Committee of the House of Representatives, on National Safety and Intelligence, headed by Mr Sani Jaji, in this matter”.

“Apart from the ethical baggage of total disregard for the binding Constitutional provision of Federal Character Principle in appointments which you as the President of Nigeria celebrated unfortunately as shown by this show of Shame which really is the best way to describe the choreographed appointment of the embattled substantives Director General of NIA, we are worried about the disturbing allegation that this man has doubtful citizenship being a Chadian by birth, as confirmed by Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu in a Hausa Interview Programme on Vision FM Radio, with Umar Farouk Musa on Wednesday 31st January 2018”, Onwubiko and Ahmed argued..

The DG’s alleged escapades with female staff of the United Nations somewhere in North Africa which was a big question that hasn’t been settled with satisfaction against the background of the poor public relations gambit that the Federal House of Representatives committee did in place of a thoroughly executed forensic investigations, have also tended to ridicule the President, they said.

“If somebody from Katsina state must be so appointed according to them, “we expect you to appoint a clean person, and not this character”.

The organization maintained that it’s members took exception to the reports credited to the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Public Safety and National Intelligence, Honorable Aminu Sani Jaji, to the effect that the embattled Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA has convinced his committee about his nationality, his marital status and his record of service.

“We share in this anxiety and well-conceived fear of most Nigerians of reputable integrity that these conclusions from the lower chamber of the National Assembly are hasty, preposterous and substantially deficient in common sense. We have the permission of our teeming members all around Nigeria to adopt this open model of communication because we are particularly saddened that the channel of direct communication with your good offices aren’t transparently administered”, they emphasized..

“May we therefore use this medium to serve President Buhari a 72- hour notice to suspend forthwith this controversial DG of NIA who from all indications does not merit such a high level appointment and follow the due process of the law with specific reference to the enabling legislation setting up the NIA in matters of appointment of DG or we will not hesitate to resort to litigation to compel Mr. President to do what is in the overall National interest of Nigeria.

While demanding for “the setting up of a judicial panel of inquiry into the shoddy vetting procedures viz-a-viz his scandalous conducts while working as UN staff., HURIWA expressed suspicion that members of the House of Representatives committee may have been compromised. Equally suspicious is the coordinated silence by the Senate and other relevant stakeholders in the face of this national embarrassment. We shall be left with no option than to open up on other facts at our disposal, as concerns the appointee and his paymasters”.

They raised posers, to include, “First, in their letter to the committee of the lower chamber of the Parliament, serving Directors of the NIA had alerted of plans to clone and fabricate documents in trying to whitewash the new NIA DG. True to these suspicions, the legislators were not thorough in carrying out this job. We therefore demand further and better handling of this issue but not without the immediate suspension from office of the embattled Director General”.

“We propose the involvement of forensic expert to carry out the verification of all the documents tendered by the Director General. This must be done since substantive DG he has hurriedly assumed office of an agency that has all the facilities to forge and clone all types of documents with professional precision”.

“Whereas the two chambers of the National Assembly were composed to reflect our Federal Character, it is necessary to answer the question concerning the propriety of the appointment of the headship of two foremost security outfits from the same tribal stock, Local Government and the same state as the President? What happens to Federal Character in this case?”

“Another fundamental question to ask is why paragraph 4(1) of NIA enabling Act was jettisoned even as this provision stated in very clear terms that the Director General of the NIA SHALL be appointed from amongst the core of serving Directors, and whether Abubakar Rufai fits into that category when he was appointed”.

“We are aware that as a practice principle, a candidate for the office of the Director General of NIA is supposed to be vetted and shown to be above board”.

Alleging further that, “We note with concern that the NIA has admitted that its team did not travel to either Chad or Sudan for the vetting of Abubakar Rufai Ahmed. There is a dark window in the vetting process, which makes it a nullity. The questions to ask here include: how do we account for his childhood and early education. Who did he stay with in Chad besides his parents or guardian? Does he have any fanatical or terrorist tendencies or was any of his family members involved in questionable conducts and could they have at any point used him as a conduit or a Mole?”

HURIWA concluded by reinstating it’s 72-hour ultimatum for Mr President to suspend the DG of NIA and order broad-based investigations of all the emerging accusations against him or they will institute a case in the Federal High Court to compel adherence to best public interest.

The post HURIWA threatens to sue Buhari over NIA DG Rufai Ahmed appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a press release by National Patriots’ Forum signed by Comrade Adewale
Benjamin, convener and Mustapha S. Tarajo, co-convener

The release said, besides the issue of doubtful citizenship and attendant multiple loyalty, the new spymaster Abubakar Rufai Ahmed had been found guilty of misconduct which could have earned him a sack from the UN job, but for the intervention of his godfathers; Ambassadors
Babagana Kingibe and Zakari Ibrahim.

A letter from his Sudan colleague and friend which was leaked to this medium, chronicled several scandalous and gross misconducts by Rufai Abubakar, as well as his questionable associations that make himunsuitable for the job of the head of Nigeria’s foremost intelligence agency.,

The letter listed amongst other things Ahmed Rufai’s double appointment with the NIA and the United Nations at the same time, his lies about his actual rank, and his relationship with a Sierra Leonean lady, Blanch Munah Hyde, of the Political Affairs Office,who had a baby
girl for him, delivered in 2012.

A case of sexual exploitation was also established against him, but he was let off the hook on the intervention of Babagana Kingibe and Zakari Ibrahim after he accepted responsibility
for the child, with a promise to marry the lady.

The NIA boss also had an inappropriate relationship with his boss, one Achiatou Muhammadu from Niger, who was the Deputy Joint Special representative DJSR, to UNAMID. The relationship was an open secret according to the letter, and the lady facilitated Rufai Abubakar’s prolonged stay outside, as a consultant to the UN, after he left the job. What has not been ascertained is whether or not they eventually married.

The content of letter by Ahmed’s close associate is reproducedbelow, omitting the author’s name and contact as requested by him, for public scrutiny and appraisal:

“Dear friends,

THE FACTS ABOUT ABUBAKAR RUFAI AHMED I KNOW

1. I am convinced beyond doubt that we are all in this for the love
of our country. I write this letter as a concerned Nigerian who has
worked with and know Abubakar Rufai Ahmed very well. I hope that the
authorities can be properly guided in choosing a more suitable head of
the NIA from the avalanche of so many more suitable and better qualified
hands besides Abubakar Rufai Ahmed, who in my estimation is a gross
misfit.

2. I crave your indulgence to recap my story on all I know about
Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as my colleague and friend, with whom I have
continued to interact after he had left the services of UNAMID in 2015.

Our paths first crossed in 2005 while I was serving with the Nigerian
Embassy in Sudan. During that period, I interacted closely with Nigerian
Military Officers and their civilian counterparts who were on Peace
Keeping Mission along with him in Darfur. The Officers had often
complained about his attitude while at AMIS mission with Ambassador
Babagana Kingibe as the Head of Mission and Ambassador Hassan Gibril of
the Gambia as the Deputy Head of Mission.

The Field Commander (FC) at that time, Major General Luke Aprezi was also a Nigerian. Ambassador Babagana Kingibe actually arrived the mission with Ahmed Rufai Abubakar
who was manning the Political Desk. While Ambassador Babagana Kingibe
maintained a home at Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and a working Guest House in
Khartoum (Sudan), the Deputy Head of Mission, Ambassador Hassan Gibril
was domiciled with the peacekeepers in Darfur; about one hour thirty
minutes’ flight from Khartoum. All the while, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar was
located with Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.

3. In the last quarter of 2005, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe ceased to
be AMIS Head of Mission. Madam Monique Mukaruliza of Rwanda assumed the
office of Head of Mission in acting capacity and remained in office
until 31 December 2007, when the UN took over from AMIS. The mission
nomenclature also changed from AMIS to UNAMID (United Nations African
Union Hybrid Operations in Darfur). A Congolese, Ambassador Rudulph
Adada took over from Madam Monique Mukaruliza as the Joint Special
Representative (JSR) of the UN Secretary General. Barely 7 months after,
a Nigerian Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari was appointed by the UN Secretary
General to take over as JSR. Thankfully, General ML Agwai (rtd), another
Nigerian was appointed as the FC.

4. Transmutation from AMIS to UNAMID came with its challenges. Apart
from the troops and police officers from different countries, the AMIS
civilian staff were not automatically absorbed into the UN system. The
UN maintains its own policies and processes to recruit their staff. Due
to the dearth of civilian staff, coupled with the refusal of UN staff in
other mission to relocate to Darfur due to fear, a window of opportunity
was created for fresh recruitment. As at this period, Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar who had hitherto been holed up in either Addis or Khartoum
relocated to Darfur. It was also in the same period that Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar also applied and secured a job as Political Affairs Officer on
the rank of P4. Two other Nigerian military officers (still serving),
Lieutenants Colonels OZ Azinta (now Major General and GOC) and Augustine
Agundu (now Major General) at the DHQ who were sharing the same office
with Ahmed Rufai Abubakar also applied and secured jobs as Political
Affairs Officers on the rank of P4. After they had completed orientation
training at the UN training school in Brindisi, Northern Italy, Azinta
and Agundu declined the UN job offer, preferring to pursue their careers
in the military. They both departed Darfur at the end of their tour of
duty.

5. It is pertinent to emphasis at this juncture that Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar secured a permanent job with the UN as a P5, the equivalence of
an Assistant Director, and appropriated all the benefits that goes with
a permanent staff. The impression we all had was that he was formally of
the ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was there until 2013 when he
attained the mandatory retiring age of 62. He was a P5 officer all along
and at no time did he attain the rank of a D2 officer, rather, he was
granted that at the tail end of his stay in UNAMID, as a parting gift. A
D2 is the equivalence of a Deputy Director. Interestingly, Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar had a very close relationship with the lady who was the Deputy
Joint Special Representative (DJSR), Achiatou Muhammadu from the Niger
Republic. It was an open secret in UNAMID that there was more to their
relationship than meet the eyes. She, it was believed, that facilitated
his promotion to D2 at his point of departure, so that he will be
entitled to pensions from the UN. Coincidentally, she was appointed the
JSR of the UN mission in Cote’d’Voire about the same time Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar was leaving UNAMID. She once again facilitated another UN job
for Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as a Consultant with the UN in Senegal.
Consultancy services in the UN system is limited by time. He remained a
consultant in Senegal for 2 years before the job was terminated in
August 2015. Consultants in the UN system, like anywhere else are not
entitled to certain benefits enjoyed by permanent staff; including
pension. However, he was already pensionable with the UN having worked
with UNAMID for more than 5 years. UN staff are pensionable after 5
years of unbroken service.

6. The question remains that if Ahmed Abubakar Rufai was a permanent
staff with NIA, he had no business accepting a permanent job with the UN
without resigning from NIA. It is hard to believe that he only turned in
his resignation letter to the NIA in 2013; the same year he left UNAMID.
His pen picture suggests one who is extremely arrogant and aloof. He
never attended any Nigerian community function while in Darfur,
including Independence Day Celebrations. Above all else, Ahmed Rufai
Abubakar was entangled in a very serious breach of the UN core values in
Darfur which could have earned him a sack if not for the cover up he got
from the senior management. A case of sexual exploitation was
established against Ahmed Rufai Abubakar in 2012 when he got one of his
staff in the political Affairs Department, Blanche Munah Hyde from
Sierra Leone pregnant. She was eventually delivered of a baby girl after
Rufai accepted responsibility.

7. Finally, I confess that Ahmed Rufai Abubakar was my colleague and
friend, so there is really no motive to lie against him. In fact, I
remained in mail contact with him long after he left UNAMID. The records
are there to support all that I have stated, in the subsequent
paragraphs. Accept these as facts and let the authorities know, but
protect my identity for obvious reasons.

The storm seems to be far from over for Abubakar Rufai Ahmed, Director
General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, as further revelations
from Darfur, Sudan where he served while with the foreign service, paint
a sordid and scandalous past, that make him unsuitable for the office
of Nigeria’s foremost Intelligence agency.This was disclosed in a
press release by National Patriots’ Forum signed by Comrade Adewale
Benjamin, convener and Mustapha S. Tarajo, co-convener

The release said, besides the issue of doubtful citizenship and
attendant multiple loyalty, the new spymaster Abubakar Rufai Ahmed had
been found guilty of misconduct which could have earned him a sack from
the UN job, but for the intervention of his godfathers; Ambassadors
Babagana Kingibe and Zakari Ibrahim.This was disclosed, the Forum said
by a diplomat and close associate who served together with Ahmed at the
same time in Sudan, but who craved for anonymity.

The post More shocking exposures on NIA’s Abubakar Rufai from Dafur appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A statement by Comrade Adewale Benjamin, convener and Mustapha S. Tarajo, co-convener of the Forum released to journalists in Abuja, Monday said: “We are constrained to state that reports credited to the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Public Safety and National Intelligence, Honorable Aminu Sani Jaji, to the effect that the embattled Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA has convinced his committee about his nationality, his marital status and his record of service, may not be tenable after all.

“Suffice it to say that, the Chairman of the Committee may have expressed his personal views, without due consultations with other members of the committee, or may have been quoted out of context, as what is happening over the issue have confirmed our fears that there is a big cover up.

“We are aware that those who imposed Rufai Ahmed as the Director General have been going round trying to alter the narrative and change the perception of Nigerians, even as they have been working towards sweeping the matter under the carpet for obvious reasons. But we hasten to state that the flaws in the said appointment were too obvious to ignore, and too glaring to defray.

The statement went further to say that “To take up Honorable Jaji’s submissions one after the other, we wish to first state that section 2 sub section 1 of the instrument establishing the National Intelligence Agency, NIA states, “The overall command of the National Intelligence Agency, is the Director General who shall be appointed by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on the advice of the National Security Adviser”.

“By the statement of Honorable Jaji, the Committee interacted with all stakeholders, including the National Security Adviser. In the event that he may have forgotten, members of the committee confided in us that the National Security Adviser flatly denied that he was ever consulted on the matter and the appointment of Abubakar Rufai was not on his advice. This is in gross violation of National Security Agencies Act 1986, cap.278LFN, which established the agency.

“Secondly, while it is true that the $44 million was not missing as we had earlier said it was moved into safe custody, the question that should arise ordinarily is why was the money moved from where it was in the first place? Which place could have been safer to keep such money than the NIA vault? We understand the committee members were adequately briefed on why the money had to be moved and we expected the chairman to have explained same in his briefing to the media.

“Thirdly, there is no ambiguity in the statement by Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Vision FM Radio Hausa programme with Umar Farouk Musa, on Wednesday, January 31st to the effect that Abubakar Rufai Ahmed was born and bred in Chad. It remains incontrovertible also that by virtue of his birth, he is a Chadian. To state otherwise is to either distort history or rewrite his life story.

“Fourthly, we know as a matter of fact that Abubakar Rufai Ahmed transferred his services from Katsina state in 1993, when he was 40 years old according to his records. He claims to have sought and obtained permission to marry in 1995, when he was presumed to be 42 years old. As a Muslim, from Katsina State where early marriage is the practice, is it tenable to say that was his first marriage at 42? It is necessary to ask what his marital status was before 1995 when he claimed to marry his current wife.

“If it is true that, Abubakar Rufai Ahmed joined the NIA in 1993 and retired in 2013, one is bound to ask how comes he was at the UNAMID on full time employment by 2007. Was he on sabbatical or leave of absence? In either case, it was wrong to take up a permanent and pensionable appointment with the UN, while he was still a permanent staff of the NIA.

“In their letter to the committee, serving Directors of the NIA had alerted of plans to clone and fabricate documents in trying to whitewash the new NIA DG. We were surprised that, although conscious of this fact, the Committee Chairman gave Rufai Ahmed a clean bill of health without either subjecting the so called documents to forensic verifications.

The forum asked “Which forensic expert did the verification if it was done and if not, we hasten to state that it was a dangerous assumption. Coming from an agency that has all the facilities to forge and clone all types of documents with professional precision, it is obvious that the honorable members were either hoodwinked or distracted.

“Whereas the two chambers of the National Assembly were composed to reflect our Federal Character, it is necessary to ask whether the honorable members did question the propriety of the appointment of the headship of two foremost security outfits from the same tribal stock, Local Government and the same state as the President? What happens to Federal Character in this case?

“Another fundamental question to ask is whether the committee obtained a copy of the Ambassador Babagana Kingibe led Review Panel from the Director General, and whether they failed to take note of or deliberately ignored paragraph 4(1), which stated in very clear terms that the Director General of the NIA SHALL be appointed from amongst the core of serving Directors, and whether Abubakar Rufai fits into that category when he was appointed.

“We are aware that as a practice principle, a candidate for the office of the Director General of NIA is supposed to be vetted right from cradle. The agency has admitted that its team did not travel to either Chad or Sudan for the vetting of Abubakar Rufai Ahmed. There is a dark window in the vetting process, which makes it a nullity.

“The questions to ask here include: how do we account for his childhood and early education. Who did he stay with in Chad besides his parents or guardian? Does he have any fanatical or terrorist tendencies or was any of his family members involved in questionable conducts and could they have at any point used him as a conduit or a Mole?

“It is rather curious that it did not even occur to the committee Chairman that it is against the law of natural justice for Rufai Ahmed to having served as the Secretary of the Committee that recommended for the appointment of the DG from amongst serving Directors to later impose himself as the DG.

“We state without any doubt that Nigerians are not impressed with the lame defenses and the attendant cover up of the fraud that characterized the appointment of Abubakar Rufai Ahmed as the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, and we will not hesitate to expose any attempt to cover it up at any point. We owe this as a duty to our great country Nigeria, and for the love of our dear President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the ultimate loser in this game of intrigues.”

The post Group alleges big cover up in NIA investigation appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The Chairman of the committee, Aminu Sani Jaji, who briefed reporters after members of his panel held a closed-door session with both the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen Babagana Monguno (rtd) and the newly appointed Director General of the NIA, Ahmed Abubakar, said contrary to a widely held notion, the $44 million found in the NIA’s vault was not missing.

Jaji, who maintained that the entire $289 million released to the NIA was not appropriated by the National Assembly, said investigations revealed that the funds must have been safely kept in an undisclosed location, pending the resolution of the issues surrounding the agency.“This $44 million is part of the $289 million approved to the then DG, Ayodele Oke. In April last year, there was the issue of $43 million found in Ikoyi. He tried to say that the $44 million and the $43 million were part of the $289 million.

“But for us, we are still working to see where the remaining $202 million was placed. We only know about the $43 million recovered in Ikoyi and the $44 million recovered from their vault. In the course of our investigation, we’ll come up with where the $289 million really is, not only the $43 million and not the $44 million.

“NIA got the money in the name of intervention. But since they said it was an intervention, maybe for whatever reason, Oke failed to disclose the amount to the present administration. Even the NSA was saying it was when this committee started working that he got to know that NIA was given $289 million.

“For me, $202 million is still missing. The money in question is $289m, and all what the former DG is trying to say is that the $43 million and the $44 million are part of the $289 million. If you subtract $43 million and $44 million, where is the balance? That’s why we have to intensify the investigation,” Jaji said.

On the committee’s findings on the eligibility of Abubakar to become the DG of the agency, Jaji said his appointment was in line with due process. “We tried to find out from the DG and some staff working in the agency, and there was no protest. For me, it’s just something anonymous.

“The circumstances surrounding his appointment were discussed. Some are saying he has dual citizenship, but he said to us categorically that his father was from Katsina and he (his father) after sometime decided to migrate from Katsina to Chad. His mother is a Nigerian, and his wife too is a Nigerian,” the lawmaker said.

The post Reps uncover another ‘missing’ $202m from NIA appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A statement by the group noted Thursday that “In a Hausa Radio programme on Vision FM monitored in Abuja on Wednesday, one of the Presidential spokespersons, Garba Shehu tried misleading the gullible Nigerian Hausa listeners ignoring the obvious contradictions in the birth and nationality of Rufai Ahmed.

The group’s statement signed by Comrade Adewale Benjamin, convener and Mustapha S. Tarajo, co-convener said “Whereas Garba Shehu, in seeming ignorance of what is contained in the official Resume of Rufai Ahmed stated that the NIA DG was born in Chad, which is the truth, the official records, as contained in Rufai’s CV however indicates that the man was born in Katsina state of Nigeria. The poser here is who is telling lies between the Presidency and Abubakar Rufai Ahmed?

“Suffice it to state that, being born in Chad automatically confers on Abubakar Rufai Ahmed the citizenship of Chad, going by conventional practice which makes citizenship either by birth, by naturalization or by registration.

It added that “Since The Presidency admitted the truth of his place of birth, it pre-supposes that a holistic vetting would have been carried out from the cradle. As far as we are concerned, he could have been born anywhere else since nobody has carried out any vetting on him as required by law.

Going further, the Patruiot’s Forum said “On the issue of his marriage to a foreigner, it is necessary to point out that, contrary to Garba Shehu’s postulations that no law exists guiding the marriage of a foreigner by diplomats and other officers of the foreign Affairs Ministry; regulation no. 6, appendix c, section 2, sub section (a) and (b), of the Federal Public Service Rules which the Foreign Affairs Ministry subscribes to stipulates amongst others that: (a) Any member of the foreign service who proposes to marry a foreigner shall first seek prior permission of the Permanent Secretary before proceeding with the marriage.

“It is needless to expatiate that it is completely forbidden in the case of Head of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA. This is intended to insulate officers from vulnerability to double loyalty and exposure to Hostile Intelligence counterparts.

“It was rather laughable the explanations made by the Presidency on the issue of Abubakar Rufai Ahmed’s failure in promotion examinations, to the effect that Garba Shehu said, Rufai was made to sacrifice his promotion having come from outside the country to sit for the examinations at each turn.

“It is rather absurd to say that he was prevailed upon to be patient on the grounds that he had been a Director at the UN. Abubaker Rufai Ahmed never rose to the rank of a Director at the United Nations. At best, he was a P5 Officer, the equivalent of an Assistant Director. He was given an honorary Deputy Director so that he will be entitled to pensions, as has been the practice at the UN.

According to the Forum, “The contradiction is, whether he accepted to return to the NIA as an Assistant Director, having been a Director at the UN, or that he was too provident to allow others proceed, while he downgrades? The fact remains that he was a glorified Personal Assistant, PA, to Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, who was head of Africa’s Peace Keeping Mission, UNAMID, before it was taken over by the UN.

It said “In accordance with Civil Service Rules, where an officer comes from does not count in his promotion, just as it does not subtract anything from his record of service. It has always been a level playing field, with no room for forfeiture on account of one’s duty post.

“There is nowhere all over the world that an officer will be prevailed upon to forgo his promotion, in a situation that he passed necessary evaluation tests, under the guise of sympathy for others. The question to ask include; whether Rufai Abubakar was prevailed upon verbally or in written and under which Director General did that take place?

“That Abubakar Rufai came in from Katsina then into the NIA is a fact, contrary to the claim that he came in from the United Nations. In fact the issue coming from the UN does not arise because it is assumed that he came from the NIA to take up appointment with the UN.

“It remains an aberration that the NIA DG who was supposed to have been downgraded on his transfer of service from Katsina State to the Foreign Affairs, he was rather promoted from Grade level 12 to Grade level 14.

“That Abubakar was both a permanent staff of the NIA as well as the UN, and retired from both in the same year are issues to be investigated. It is not practicable anywhere for an officer to hold two appointments both on permanent basis at the same time.

“There is the need to state for the avoidance of doubt that Nigerians, including supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari are not impressed with the infantile defenses being put up to save the job for the cabal, using Abubakar Rufai Ahmed and the NIA as a proxy.

“Lies, however beautifully colored can never take the place of truth, neither can deceit, however well clothed take the place of reality. Nigerians are watching,” the group said.

The post Again, group accuses presidency of desperation, deception on NIA Rufai Ahmed’s saga appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A member of the committee confided in our correspondent that the former Acting DG who was invited by the committee met with the members behind closed doors disclosed that, it was actually a game of intrigues, blackmail and sleazes amongst members of the Presidential Panel on the Reorganization of the NIA, under the leadership of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe that was the crux of the matter.

The committee members who analyzed a nine page memo submitted by the former Acting DG on Monday, were said to have been informed that, Kingibe’s panel held the NIA to a virtual ransom over the $44 million Intervention fund in the vaults of the agency, by demanding for their share of the money.

A member of the committee who craved anonymity told this medium that, part of their discoveries from Ambassador Dauda include the story of how Ambassador Kingibe and the Secretary of the Panel, Abubakar Rufai Ahmed, now the Director General had collected money in tranches only demand for and collected $2 million from the agency’s coffers.

The former Acting Director General told the committee members that, the $44 million was actually moved from the vaults of the NIA on the orders of the National Security Adviser, into protective custody when it became obvious that the changes effected in the leadership of the NIA was actually targeted at siphoning the $44 million, and not for any concrete reason.

While calling on the Committee members to save the jobs of the nine serving Directors of the NIA, who may have been penciled for compulsory retirement for denying members of Kingibe’s group from accessing the $44 million, Ambassador Dauda also told them that, besides the excessive monetary demands, the panel members instructed him to shun the NSA in his dealings.

While the Presidency has been running from pillar to pole in trying to defend the appointment of Abubakar Rufai Ibrahim as NIA DG, Ambassador Mohammed Dauda’s memo to the House of Representatives and the EFCC seem to have gotten them on the wrong foot as the embattled former Acting DG tendered documents relating to the claims, including the receipt of $2 million allegedly by Ambassador Kingibe.

Ambassador Dauda’s latest exposition which was backed by documentary evidences of corruption against the duo of Babagana Kingibe and Abubakar Rufai Ahmed, especially the conspiracy to steal the $44 million and the surreptitious insistence that Rufai becomes the NIA DG to cover up the shoddy deals may be the blow that will break the camel’s back.

The post More revelations as Reps set to confront Kingibe over NIA DG’s appointment appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.