The Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, has said that his resignation was a mutual agreement with President Bola Tinubu.
Abubakar has been Nigeria’s spy chief since 2018 when he was first appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was reappointed in 2021 after his first four-year tenure elapsed.
President Tinubu inherited him in 2023 when he took over as the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces and has since worked with the NIA DG.
However, the news of the resignation of the NIA boss filtered in on Friday night, but without official confirmation.
But after a meeting with President Tinubu on Saturday, Mr. Abubakar confirmed to the media that he had resigned his position on a mutual ground with the commander-in-chief.
Speaking to journalists at the State House after the meeting, the NIA boss said that he had resigned on personal grounds including family commitment.
He said:
“Its a routine thing, from time to time, I brief Mr President on situations in the country and today is no exception.
“After the briefing today, actually I tendered 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 stretcher at a go. So I thanked him very well, and I promised to remain professional as we are professionally dedicated to our country and to noble causes.”
Shedding more light on the situation he stated that, “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.”