The Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, on Saturday tendered his resignation to President Bola Tinubu.
A reliable State House source confided: “DG, National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar tenders resignation to President Tinubu.”
At the time of filing this report, the reason for his resignation is not yet known.
It would be recalled that under Abubakar’s watch in October 2022 that operatives of the agency stormed the head office of Peoples Gazette in Abuja.
The newspaper had published in a series of three articles – a memo that spy chiefs at the foreign intelligence office had written to former President Muhammadu Buhari, warning him against retaining Rufai Abubakar as the director-general on the grounds that he lacked intellectual and physiological rigour for the position.
He was first appointed in 2018 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who extended his stay in office in December 2021.
The DG announced his resignation after briefing President Bola Tinubu “After the briefing I actually tendered my resignation and Mr President graciously approved and accepted the resignation,” he said in an interview with journalists in State House, Abuja.
He expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for the opportunity to serve under his “transformational leadership” for an extended period of 15 months, which he described as “very rare”.
Abubakar cited personal and family reasons for his resignation, emphasizing that nothing was “very serious” and that his friendship with the President would continue. He promised to remain professionally dedicated to Nigeria and noble causes.
The former NIA DG highlighted the opportunity to mentor officers and staff during his seven-year tenure, stating that there are many capable officers who can excel in the position
He said: “It’s a routine thing, from time to time to brief Mr. President on situations,, and today no exception. After the briefing today, actually.
“I tendered my resignation and Mr. President graciously approved and accepted the resignation. I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to serve Nigeria under his transformational leadership for a period, for an extended period of 15 months, which is very rare, by the way, to serve, to have the opportunity to serve two President on a stretcher at a go. So I thanked him very well, and I promised to remain professionally as we are professionally dedicated to our country and to noble causes.”
Asked why he was resigning, he said: “There are quite a number of reasons one will do that, some personal family issues, but nothing very serious, actually, and the friendship will continue. I discussed this with Mr. President, and he understood very well. I promise to remain seized by issues and the security situation of the country.”
On President Tinubu’s reaction, Abubakar said: “I think it’s not for me to say this, actually, probably I’ll be breaching a protocol, but maybe the NSA and or Mr. President himself will say it. But what I can tell you is that I’m very, very grateful for the opportunity that the President gave me—actually to serve the country and his leadership, the encouragement I got, the confidence he had in me and in my service, the opportunity to listen to me, to read briefing notes and advice, and so on. I think this, for me, is everything, and I have had the opportunity to mentor officers and staff for all the period I have been DG. This is the seventh year, by the way mentoring officers and staff for all the period that I’ve been DG, this is the seventh year, by the way, and the opportunity to mentor younger officers to come up, and now we have many officers who can do this job and do it. Excellently well.“
