₦airaland Forum

Ishilove:
Very rare exception

Ishilove:
Lies. An African leader can NEVER resign. They are just too power drunk for that

UjSizzle:
How I love competition

Stop leaking secrets on NIA; Anyaoku warns Osinbajo panel

ADEKUNLE
1 MAY 2017


Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has thrown his weight behind yesterday’s warning by former Minister of External Affairs, Prof, Bolaji Akinyemi, that secrets on the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, should not be leaked to the public.

Akinyemi had issued the warning against the backdrop of ongoing probe of NIA Director-General, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, by the Presidential panel, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He said the gravity of the issue propelled him to react to the development, especially as it portended danger for the country’s security system.

Anyaoku in a statement issued Monday night said ”Apart from my intervention that led to the signing of the Abuja Accord by all the presidential candidates in the run-up to the 2015 national elections, I do not normally issue public statements on developments within our country.

”But because of its gravity, I feel compelled to publicly express my full support for the statement by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi on the need to stop leaking secrets on NIA which I have just read in our media while on a visit to London.

”It is common practice by responsible governments throughout the world for only the Head of Government and his/her very few appropriate Ministers to be involved in the operations of the nation’s external secret service.

”While not sparing every effort to check corruption, to expand the scope of such involvement would be doing huge damage to the security of the state.”

NIA Probe Report Must Remain Classified, Bolaji Akinyemi Warns

May 1, 2017

NIA DG’s confession opens can of worms, causes disquiet among spy agencies
• DSS DG may be summoned, Oke to reappear tomorrow

By Bolaji Akinyemi in Abuja and Olawale Olaleye in Lagos

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A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has warned that the report of the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo panel investigating the discovery of N13.3 billion in an apartment in Ikoyi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should remain classified in order not to compromise national security.


This is just as it emerged at the weekend that the panel is strongly considering at least a week’s extension to conclude its investigations and submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The move to extend the deadline may have been compelled by the testimonies and volumes of documents presented by the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke, among several other government officials who have been summoned by the panel, thus requiring further scrutiny.


The panel, which is scheduled to conclude and submit its reports on Wednesday, was set up by the president on April 19 and given two weeks to investigate the alleged mismanagement of funds routed through the Presidential Initiatives for the North-east (PINE), which Lawal chaired in his capacity as the SGF.

The panel is also to investigate the discovery of N13.3 billion in the Ikoyi flat, which the NIA has claimed were its funds meant for projects in Lagos and the South-west.


Others on the panel are the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno.

However, Akinyemi, in a statement on Sunday said when news broke that some millions of dollars had been found hidden in a flat in Ikoyi, he was quite indifferent, as it had become a “recurring decimal”.


“I was not even bothered when nobody initially stepped forward to claim it. But when Ambassador Ayo Oke stepped forward to claim it on the part of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), alarm bells started to ring in my ears.

“It is one of the sacred traditions of the external intelligence trade to admit nothing and to deny nothing,” he said.

Akinyemi, who was also the deputy chairman of the 2014 National Conference, noted that a saving grace emerged when the president set up the Osinbajo panel to untangle the web over the millions of dollars.


“But the president inadvertently made a mistake. He did not appoint anyone with a history of external intelligence experience unto the panel.


“External intelligence operations do not belong in the same security genre as domestic security forces such as the DSS, EFCC and the police.


“External intelligence officers, otherwise called spies, do not operate under the same operational penalties as domestic intelligence officers.


“The ultimate penalty for a foreign spy in most countries is death. Countries go to incredible lengths to hide the identities of their agents both domestic and foreign and their operations. No receipts get issued.


“Budgets are called black budgets because they are never publicly acknowledged.


“It would have been reassuring if the president had appointed a former head of or a former very senior member of NIA to be a member of the panel.


“Even at this late stage, let me remind the vice-president that a lawyer with a specialty in constitutional law will not appreciate the niceties of international law.


“It is not too late to appoint a retired head of NIA as a consultant to the panel,” he said.


The former minister explained that he was motivated at this late stage to issue the statement in view of the fact that the House of Representatives has decided to institute its own inquiry to this “peculiar mess”.

“This is a dangerous move. In my knowledge in this field, I know of only one occasion when a government, in this case, the United States Government, set up a congressional committee, the Church Committee, named after the Chairman, Senator Frank Churchill, to look into ‘governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities’.


“In fact, the main issue which was its concern was ‘did the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ever indulge in carrying out assassinations of foreign presidents?’


“Normally, foreign intelligence activities are shrouded in secrecy and not in the glare of publicity,” he added.


Akinyemi pointed out that the whole saga had made Nigeria a laughing stock in the world, adding that Nigerian agents strewn all across Africa are now in dread of being exposed.


“Recruiting agents in future in Africa is going to be difficult out of fear of future exposure,” he cautioned.

Akinyemi went on to proffer recommendations to limit the damage that has already been done:

• It is not too late to call in a former Director of NIA to serve as a consultant to the Osinbajo panel.

• No more leaks from the panel.

• Under no circumstances should the report of the panel, in as far as it relates to the activities of the NIA, be made public.

• Under no circumstances should the National Assembly be allowed to conduct hearings into the NIA affairs. The Osinbajo panel report could be shared secretly with the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.

• Should any NIA officer be found culpable, he or she should be quietly eased out. Putting a foreign intelligence officer on trial in an open court is going to be disastrous to external national security interests. If there is no provision to put an intelligence officer on trial in a secret and special court, an executive bill should be sent to the National Assembly to make provisions for such.

• Under no circumstances should one security agency be allowed to move against another security agency, especially one dealing with foreign intelligence, without the express permission of the president or in his absence the acting president. This should be without any publicity or fanfare.

One-week Extension

Meanwhile, following the testimonies and the voluminous documents presented by Lawal and Oke, among several other government officials who have been summoned by the panel, there are indications that the committee is strongly considering at least a week’s extension to conclude its investigation and submit its report to Buhari.


The Osinbajo panel, THISDAY gathered, has uncovered so much in the last few days that it has come to the realisation that if it must do a thorough and convincing job, the initial two-week deadline it was given would be inadequate, hence its resolve to seek at least a week’s extension.

The vice-president, who is believed to have taken this assignment very seriously, given the importance that Nigerians and the world attach to the investigation, was said to have recently rebuffed a former governor of a South-west state and stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), when the ex-governor attempted to intervene on behalf of his ally, the suspended SGF.


Sources however reckoned the APC chieftain has not given up on intervening for the SGF, whose testimony before the panel was said to have indicted a few Buhari loyalists in the corridors of power.

In fact, THISDAY gathered from presidency sources that the former governor was said to have told Lawal to remain calm while he continues to pull strings on his behalf.


Also, it was learnt that the testimony and documents presented by the suspended NIA DG, Oke, were said to have been so revealing that the panel has realised that it would need more time for follow up questions to put together an unimpeachable report.


Although the panel’s consideration for an extension is not unmindful of the possibility that Buhari may have to travel soon on another medical vacation, those itching to intervene for different reasons were said to be happy about the likely extension, as the president’s absence could buy them more time.


Inside sources informed THISDAY that the president was of the view that the defence provided by the NIA DG, some of which was said to have been brought to his notice a year ago, has been forthright and has his support.


In the light of his revelations, presidency sources said the NIA DG was re-invited for further grilling on Thursday evening and is also slated to appear again tomorrow.


His appearance before the committee last Thursday lasted till midnight and was said to have been very revealing on the startling details of NIA’s operations and even implicated certain individuals in the Buhari administration.


The sources maintained that Oke also provided documents showing past expenditures of the agency, a development said to have expanded the list of those implicated.


THISDAY sources were also of the view that now that the Pandora’s Box has been opened, even if those identified are not indicted immediately, they would certainly lose the trust and confidence of the president, who was said to believe everything the NIA DG has so far submitted to the panel.


Sources believe that if the vice-president sustains the pace and approach to this particular assignment without fear or favour, it would be a major breakthrough in the anti-graft war.

Growing Disquiet

Another source in the presidency who spoke to THISDAY, also confirmed that Oke’s testimony and outcome of the panel’s investigations have caused disquiet among the nation’s intelligence agencies which are now afraid it could undermine national security.


One critical area the spy agencies sense might be adversely affected, intelligence sources said on Sunday, is the extant stipluation that forbids the external audit of intelligence agencies.


According to Paragraph 12 (1) and (2) of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency Instrument No 1, made under the National Security Agencies (NSA) Act, 1986, the accounts of the spy agency is prohibited from external audit as the DG accounts directly to the president.


Other intelligence agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS) also have similar instruments insulating them from external audit of their finances.


Intelligence sources said, however, that given Osinbajo’s disposition so far, he might recommend a review of the law to bring it in line with the normal accounting standards and procedures.

“This could undermine intelligence operations and jeopardise our national security,” a source said.
THISDAY sources said on Sunday that the issue has already caused a disagreement between the vice-president and the AGF.


During his grilling last Monday, Oke was said to have objected to a suggestion by Osinbajo that NIA’s accounts should be audited by external auditors to ascertain the probity of the agency’s finances.


While Malami was said to have agreed with Oke that such an inquiry would contravene the NSA Act, Osinbajo was said to have contended that the Act was inferior to the 1999 Constitution.


The vice-president, however, prevailed as a team of auditors were said to have visited the NIA headquarters in Abuja on Friday to pry into the agency’s books.


This, an intelligence officer said, has been unsettling to the spy chiefs in the country. “What has happened is like the FBI investigating the accounts of the CIA,” he said, explaining that it was strange.

THISDAY sources said following the insistence of Oke that his operations and the unusual handling of the N13.3 billion was in keeping with the opaque nature of intelligence organisations worldwide, the committee might summon the Director-General of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, to testify and update it on intelligence financial accounting.


“It was even a misnomer that other intelligence agencies were not appointed to serve on the committee,” said an intelligence source, who said given the limited knowledge of the vice-president and the AGF on intelligence matters, persons familiar with the terrain ought to have been included on the committee.


Oke, according to a source, has also been asked to appear before the committee on Wednesday to clarify issues that cropped up after his last testimony on Thursday.


He was said to have told the committee that his handling of the $289 million intervention fund released to his agency by the Goodluck Jonathan administration might seem unusual, it was in tandem with intelligence service operations worldwide, saying he complied with the law by informing the president and the NSA about the money.


But media reports at the weekend quoted NSA sources as denying that the money was not reported to the president and the NSA.

The reports claimed that the NSA only became aware of the money when the DG, NIA belatedly filed a report after a presidential committee investigating arms procurement uncovered the existence of the funds.


An NIA source, however, dismissed the reported denial by the NSA as an afterthought, referring copiously to Oke’s memo of January 2016 to the NSA in which he gave a breakdown of the intervention funds.


“The title of the memo was ‘Report on Release of $289m Intervention Fund for Infrastructure Development and Covert Operations’,” he said, contending that it was obvious from the heading of the memo that the NSA was briefed.


“If the NSA was not briefed, on what basis did he set up the verification team that inspected NIA projects and submitted a report to him in February, 2016?” the source asked.


According to the source, “In any case, the president came to one of the facilities built with the money, the Hill Top Retreat and Technical Centre, Abuja, to induct the new ambassadors in December 2016 and inspected other projects, including the helipad and the Snake Road built through the rocky terrain of the agency’s headquarters.


“With what money were those projects built when, in fact, the agency got zero capital allocation in 2015 and less than 40 per cent capital releases in 2016?”


Cautioning the Office of the NSA not to precipitate a media war between it and the NIA, the source asked the NSA to explain the basis of a memo he sent to the DG, NIA on May17, 2016 expressing his and the president’s satisfaction over the projects executed with the intervention funds.

Asked whether the NSA was briefed on the N13.3 billion found in the Ikoyi flat and why such a huge amount in cash was kept there, he said: “The law does not require the DG to release details of the agency’s accounts to the NSA. What he is entitled to know are the headings, which was contained in the DG’s memo of January 2016.


“Secondly, there is no intelligence agency in the world that does not have cash holdings, particularly in US dollars, as 80 per cent of our operations are in dollars.”

AntiWailer:
You are right NIA's jurisdiction is keeping 48million dollars cash in personal apartment.

Na so

bigtt76:
The best yet Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants held Nigeria to ransom for close to a decade ....#mtscheeeeeeeeeeew!!!

Don’t destroy NIA, Nigeria can’t survive without it – Horsefall, pioneer DG NIA

ON May 4, 2017 1:21 AM

By Jimitota Onoyume

Chief Albert Horsefall is the founding Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA. He was also Director General of the State Security Service, SSS.


In this exclusive interview, the former security czar, warned strongly against developing activities around the NIA, saying they were capable of completely ruining the intelligence agency.


He said he had heard that some military men whether retired or serving had been posted to take over some departments of the NIA, stressing this move would ridicule this distinct security body before the international community.


Albert also said he got feelers that some auditors had been deployed to look at the books of the NIA, noting that the security agency do not operate like other conventional organisations.


He pleaded for a brake to be applied to save the nation’s national intelligence body. According to him, auditors could trace to agents who are priceless treasures of intelligence agencies.


He said any attempt to unmask them would expose their lives to dangers in the countries where they are operating in disguised forms. Chief Horsefall said he had no other option but to cry out through the media after all efforts he made to see President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Professor Yemi Osibanjo failed last week. Excerpts:

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WHAT is your reaction to the state of affairs at the NIA?

I am concerned and baffled by what is happening in the NIA as the founding Director General of the service. I established the NIA in 1986 and set it up purely as a professional intelligence service at the highest level.

To achieve my objective I recruited equal number of graduates, 15 at that time from every one of the 21 states of the federation.

The entry qualification was first class or second class upper degree from any recognised Nigerian university. So the foundation was solid in terms of personnel.

Solid intelligence officers

Those who were keen observers then will express satisfaction that these were the best trained security officers in the country and even when compared with some other countries.

The training process went on for about three years. All of them learnt the art. I will not disclose what they were trained for but they were trained in the act of becoming solid intelligence officers.

No modern country can survive without an intelligence service especially one like Nigeria which has ambition for regional and international participation in politics and diplomacy. You need an intelligence service to promote your objectives beyond foreign service personnel. For this purpose the Nigerian Service during my time was very well equipped.


What gives me sleepless night is that action of the current DG of the service who was one of the early graduates of the process that I just described, and spent quite sometime abroad in the Commonwealth office. But the DG is only the top public relations manager of any service organization, below him there is a magnificent body of experience of capable Nigerians who make up the service.


Have you spoken with him?

I have not spoken with the DG quite frankly. It is alleged that he had “carelessly dropped” some money in a “safe” house in Lagos. Whether this is true or exaggerated, I am not in a position to really know because I have not been briefed on it. But that issue was allegedly discovered by another top public official, acting chairman of the EFCC.

In such a situation, one would say thank God that it was discovered by another agency within the same administration, that another top official discovered what appeared to be the indiscretion of a colleague.

The normal thing would have been for the gentleman to report to Mr. President. So the discoverer of the money had two options. One, to call his colleague to say he found money you carelessly dropped in a safe house, or go to Mr. President and say that he found this huge sum of money purportedly left carelessly by another top official of government. But the report we are receiving from the media is that the EFCC acting chairman, went to the media first to report it.

The questions are: are the two agencies serving the same government? Is it in the national interest for such delicate information to be in the custody of the press before the President? It is a matter of judgment. I will invite all concerned to reflect this issue soberly for national interest.

The NIA has come under tremendous pressure. I was told but I don’t know the truth of the matter that some serving or retired military officials have been posted to take over certain departments in the NIA. In a democratic setting, this is uncalled for.

Why?

Because you are invading the top secret of the organization. This is the service that operates the intelligence of the country overseas, the country’s diplomatic intelligence service. When you invade it this way, you expose it to ridicule, the myth around it will be gone.


Recruitment and management

When you invade it, you demoralise them. The intelligence service work with recruitment and management of agents overseas to bring information that will be moulded into intelligence to protect the national security. When you expose the service the way it is being done now, hopefully, foreign agents will lose confidence in the service, so you are not safe.


I am informed but I am not sure. They have asked some investigators to go and look into the records of the NIA. If they are operating in the parlance of a professional intelligence service, what would you find? Payments to agents, agents are the highest property of the intelligence agency.


Once you unmask them, you expose them to threats, they can be murdered. Because somebody will discover they have been working against them for the NIA. I recall as DG one of the issues I had with my political coordinator was that they wanted me to give him the list of those I am working with. And I said no, we quarreled until he gave up.


These are people working for the agency under different disguises abroad, their lives are in your hand as their commander. So when you expose their identity they are in danger.


Consequences of the probe?

These are some of the consequences of what could happen in the current exercise taking place. This is why I am appealing to all concerned to apply brake in the national interest!

National interest

Intelligence services all over the world are mystical, they operate in secrecy. Their resources are in secret, their resources are not necessarily allocations from government. They are allowed to raise resources from different sources so long as they disclose them to the head of government.

So my appeal to all concerned is that they should reflect on the delicate issues involved. You can’t build an intelligence agency in one day, not even in one year. When you expose this service the way you are going, everyday on paper, television, you will never be able to get an intelligence service in this country in the next twenty years.

You think it is like recruiting police people and putting them in uniform? You can’t build an intelligence service in five, ten years. It will take a sound professional mind to rebuild the intelligence service if you destroy this.


Have you made efforts to address the authorities on this?

I was in Abuja for one week to see the authorities. I could not see number one or number two. So this is the only option opened to me as the founding DG to use the media for this quite delicate matter. Of course, all the issues are in the media.