The Acting-Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Arap Yadam, has been quietly relieved of his appointment. He was suddenly removed over the weekend and promptly replaced with Ambassador Mohammed Dawuda.

The belief in security circles is that the decision to terminate the appointment of Ambassador Arap Yadam, whose tenure would have ended today, Tuesday, November 7, 2017, runs counter to the National Security Act which stipulates that a three-month period of grace be given every departing head of NIA to allow for seamless handover of office and adequate briefing of a new DG from a departing one. Many suspect that this development may bring about the curious case whereby Ambassador Oke of the cash-in-Ikoyi-flat scandal would be the person to actually hand over to Ambassador Dawuda to facilitate a planned cover-up of the “Ikoyi-gate” scandal.

Also, many suspect that apart from the Ikoyi-gate, a worse cover up may be in the offing; this is because another $250 million belonging to the NIA have been said by inside sources to have been discovered.

Aso Rock insiders said that one of Ambassador Yedam’s greatest sins is that he so believed in the transparency policy of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency that he refused to promote Buhari’s present Director of Protocol, Lawal Kazaure, to the position of a Director at the NIA. The protocol man was said to have failed his promotion examinations to the grade of a Director. “The last one was held last month and he still flunked it,” one source said. Also, Yedam also refused to bow the pressure some Aso Rock insiders put on him to embark on a massive purchase of motor-vehicles for Ambassadors.

Now, the Chief of Staff to President Buhari is said to have pounced on the pretext that Ambassador Yedam’s official retirement date is November 7, 2017 to deny him a three-month of grace that should have allowed for a seamless handover at the NIA. Villa insiders called this a “coup against NIA and a revenge mission against transparency and due process following Amb. Yedam.”

Already, the new Acting DG, Ambassador Dawuda, Nigeria’s immediate past Ambassador to Chad, has been handicapped by the decision of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, to limit the DG’s role and powers only to operational matters.

The other roles that have in the past been within the purview of the DG have reportedly been set aside for a new group personally put together by the Chief of Staff. “This group,” according to a source, “comprises of Ambassadors Babagana Kingibe, Zakari Ibrahim and Niyi Oladeji – NIA’s DG from 2009 to 2013. The three Ambassadors were originally called in by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo panel to make expert input into the report of the investigation concerning the tenure of Ambassador Ayo Oke, which went up in a heavy smoke with the discovery of huge sums of money stashed in an Ikoyi, Lagos, flat. Oke was suspended and was recently relived of his duties, but the nation has yet to see the result of the investigation into his tenure and especially about the $43.4 million operations cash found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at apartment 7B in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.”

NIA insiders suspect that the report may never come to light as the investigation may deliberately be deadlocked or made inconclusive.” This is because it is public knowledge that Kingibe has been a long-time mentor and uncle-figure to Ambassador Oke,” one source said. He pointed out that Oke served as Kingibe’s First Secretary when Kingibe was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Pakistan over three decades ago.

“The Chief of Staff is said to be particularly happy with Kingibe who has emerged the unofficial Foreign Affairs Policy Chief for President Muhammadu Buhari,” the source further said.

Those who understand how national security works are seriously alarmed that unless something is done urgently to rein in the debilitating factionalisation on matters concerning the NIA, Nigeria’s elite intelligence arm, and the country’s equivalent of the American CIA or the British M16 or Israel’s Mossad, the agency may be handicapped by unnecessary government in-fighting to give its best service to Nigeria.

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