ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Rufai Abubakar, has given reasons he, yesterday, tendered his resignation letter to President Bola Tinubu.

Abubakar was first appointed NIA DG in 2018 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who extended his stay in office in December 2021.

The DG, who announced his resignation after briefing President Tinubu, told journalists in the State House, Abuja: “After the briefing I actually tendered my resignation and Mr President graciously approved and accepted the resignation.”

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,” adding that his friendship with the president would continue.

He promised to remain professionally dedicated to Nigeria and committed to noble causes.

The resigned 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 left behind.

His words: “It’s a routine thing, from time to time to brief Mr. President on situations and today is no exception. After the briefing today, actually I tended 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 Presidents at a stretch, at ago . So, I thanked him very well, and I promised to remain professionally as we are professionally dedicated to our country and to noble causes.

“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 with Mr. President, he understood very well, and I promise to remain seized with issues and the security situations of the country.

“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 to mentor officers and staff for all the period that I’ve been DG to come up, and now we have a lot of many officers who can do this job and do it excellently well.”