NIA DG: Presidency Is Desperat­e, Deceitful – Group

A group, the National Patriots’ Forum, has said the Presidency, in its seeming desperati­on to cover up the fraud at the National Intelligence Agenc­y (NIA), and defend the wrong appointment of Abubakar Rufai Ahmed as the substantive Director-General, has been telling unbridled lies and half-truths, using its propaganda machine­ry

A statement by the group and made available to Sundiata Post on Thursday, noted 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 natura­lisation 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 Patriots’ 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 made 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 writing 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 defence being put up to save the job for the cabal, using Abubakar Rufai Ahmed and the NIA as a proxy.

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