Buhari appoints Ahmed Abubakar as new DG for NIA

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as the Director General for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Until his new appointment, Abubakar, a retired career foreign service officer, served as senior special assistant to the president on foreign affairs/international relations.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina yesterday explained that the appointment was with immediate effect.

President Buhari had last year directed the suspension of the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke.

In a statement signed by Adesina, Buhari ordered a full-scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the NIA had made a claim.

The investigation was also to unravel the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there had been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.

A three-man committee comprising Vice President Yemi Osinbajo conducted the investigation.