In the last couple of weeks, one of the issues that have caught national attention is the recent appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Prior to his recent appointment, Abubakar had worked in the presidency as senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs/International Relations.
May be because of the nature of his assignment, he was a face that worked behind the scene as one of those tackling issues connected with Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges. His latest assignment therefore is a major one, given the fact that President Buhari has promised among others to defeat Boko Haram which until recently has held Nigeria by the jugular.
Back to the appointment of Abubakar. One would have thought that his appointment by President Buhari would have received thumbs up even among government’s critics.
The question then is: Did Buhari make a mistake by appointing his aide on foreign affairs and international relations to replace Ayo Oke who was sacked as NIA DG?
Till date, nobody has faulted the legality/ constitutionality of the action of the president in appointing the new DG. All that we have been inundated with on the social media and the mainstream media are allegations that have been rather personal and unsubstantiated.
Some of Abubakar’s critics claim he holds dual citizenship, schooled in Chad and married to a Moroccan.
Questions have also been raised about his suitability for the job, having allegedly retired as an Assistant Director who also failed career exams twice.
An Abuja-based lawyer was even on Channels Television recently where he raised the aforementioned issues with all the energy at his disposal.
However, when the anchor of the programme asked him to substantiate his claims, he claimed to have gotten his facts from the social media! Curiously, the lawyer and others who have been peddling these rumours have not approached the courts over an otherwise constitutional issue.
Though one is at a loss on why the man in question has not dignified his traducers with a response, his position as an intelligence officer may be a major challenge, as was the case when Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen was to be elevated to his present position.
Meanwhile, there has been no information about the Chadian passports of Mr. and Mrs. Abubakar to link them to Chad or any other nationality that may well expose them.
Though President Buhari may not be perfect, there is no debating the fact whatever success that has been recorded in the fight against insurgency is a collaborative effort among the intelligence community. It will therefore not be out of place for the President to appoint somebody who has distinguished himself within the fold to a higher office.
Abubakar in particular has worked with the president and he must have seen something that many of us do not see for him to have appointed him NIA-DG.
Even at that, Abubakar parades impeccable credentials and has had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service where he rose to the level of a Deputy Director. Before his appointment as SSA by President Buhari, he was the Senior Political Adviser at the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) a regional initiative coalition of countries of the Lake Chad Basin, deployed to fight Boko Haram in Chad. He was also Director, Political Affairs at the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) in Dakar, where he directed and coordinated technical support for Special Representative of the Secretary General for West Africa, SRSGWA in spearheading UN’s efforts in the countries of West Africa and Mauritania.
As an aide to President Buhari on Foreign/International Relations, he provided technical support to the chief of staff to the president on issues related to foreign policy and international relations.
On the subject matter, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity was categorical. Hear him: “A lot of half-truths, misinformation, and outright falsehood have attended the announcement of a new NIA Director General. Some of such unfounded stories include that Abubakar retired from the services of NIA as an Assistant Director because he failed promotions examinations twice and had to quit, willy-nilly. Others claim he is married to a Moroccan and so, cannot hold such sensitive security position while others say he was born and bred in Chad, and he holds dual nationality. All these have been widely disseminated on the social, and some mainstream media.
“The new NIA DG retired from the Foreign Service as deputy director (not assistant director) and three times during his career, won merit awards for competence and meritorious service. Failing promotion examination can only exist in the fecund minds of fiction writers.
“His last position before the new appointment was as senior special assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs/International Affairs where, again, he quietly proved himself.
“Abubakar parents hailed from Kastina State and had settled in Chad at a point in their lifetime. The new DG did his primary school in Ndjamena (then Fort-Lamy), but returned to Nigeria for his secondary and university education. He never, at any time, held Chadian nationality.
“Mr. Abubakar’s only wife hailed from Kastina State, indeed, from the same community as the husband. The story of being married to a Moroccan can only be tale by moonlight, concocted by people who love a fib.
“The president appointed the new DG because he had worked closely with him in the past two years and sincerely believes that he would add value to the NIA,” the presidential spokesman said.
Coming from Adesina, a man that speaks the mind of the president, one can safely say that the controversy over the issue at hand has definitely been laid to rest. The onus now lies on Nigerians to give the new NIA DG all the support needed to succeed in his new assignment. Abubakar definitely has a rich repertoire of experience. The best we can do is to give him the necessary backing at this critical period of our national history.
- Ejokparoghene, a political activist, writes from Warri, Delta State.
