From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Internal Affairs and Intelligence, Hon Aminu Sani Jaji, has extolled the virtues of the Director-General National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, insisting that he is still the man competent enough to head the agency.
The Zamfara State-born chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) further maintained, in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, that the agency needs him for institutional integrity.
He also argued that his reappointment is based purely on merit, not sentiment, emphasising that: ‘I personally subscribe to the idea of reappointing him not based on sentiment but simply because of the exemplary leadership he has displayed while discharging his official duties as DG NIA.
‘Many people don’t know why he was reappointed. We did a thorough job asking past DG NIA on his suitability for the job when we were in the House of Representatives and we had no option but to endorse his appointment based on his qualifications,” he insisted.
Defending his choice and unblemished records, Hon Jaji said: ‘The decision to reappoint the DG NIA is a good development. People have the right to dislike him but not definitely on the basis of incompetence or capability.
‘During my stay as the chairman Reps Committee on Intelligence and National Security, we didn’t have anything against the DG NIA because he is eminently qualified to occupy that position. I can tell you categorically that all the accusations levelled against him are false.
‘I recall that my committee asked for his file, scrutinised it with my colleagues right from the day he was appointed to serve in that agency, his promotions and the results of examinations that he sat for which he passed successfully. In the course of our investigation, we found out that he even bagged the DG’s award three times. It’s a rare feat for anybody working in the NIA or the department of state security (DSS). Anybody who is not qualified can’t bag the award in the first place.
‘From the records, he was the first person to be sent to the United Nations (UN) to represent the agency. It is instructive to note that he joined the NIA purely on merit. The then Ambassador Zakari were on a visit to Katsina for a french Nigerian programme when somebody noticed one young man that exhibited high-level brilliance.
‘He did very well translating french to English for participants at the event. It was in appreciation of his performance at the event that they gave him a free offer of employment to serve with the NIA. His track record in the Bayero University Kano (BUK) is also there for scrutiny.
‘I am aware that people can be good at one point and be completely different while on the job. But here is a man that has displayed a high sense of commitment and intelligentsia while discharging his duties from 2018 to the time that the President Muhammadu Buhari reappointed him,” he said.
‘A former DG NIA even told me that he is one of the personnel they ever had with tremendous potentials to rise to the seat he is occupying presently. I didn’t see the wisdom in what he told me until after two incidents happened. A colleague once called me from Italy to attest to the fact that Nigeria is doing very well on intelligence gathering and interception of several pieces of information against terrorism and various forms of criminalities.
‘He even told me that whoever is the head of that agency deserves a special award for doing very well. As we speak today, we get credible intelligence on all smuggled items into the country, especially the ones injurious to our citizens through the input of the NIA. The country is also doing well on cyber security. It has not been possible breaking into our websites as is happening to other countries of the world.
‘We need to maintain the integrity of the institution because all that he is doing is not to make a name for himself but to ensure the NIA remains vibrant and effective. He needs to be commended like the way it was done in India where the Indian government gave the head of their intelligence agency a lifetime award and scholarship to members of his family and also in Bucharest, Bulgaria some times ago.
‘Let’s have a system that would stabilise the whole region. I am not referring to Nigeria alone but the west African region through intelligence gathering and sharing. If we bring somebody with no idea of doing this it would not augur well for the country. We have to thank President Buhari for doing the right thing at the right time,’ he noted.