- Says successor eyeing $44m special fund
The immediate past Acting Director-General, (D-G) of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ambassador Mohammed Dauda, has revealed that he was sacked for failing to pay Head of the President Buhari-appointed review panel on the NIA, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe $2 million as bribe.
According to an on-line news platform, Pointblanknews, Dauda alleged that Kingibe, a former foreign affairs minister and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), had, aside several monetary demands, pointedly asked him to pay the $2 million as protection money, which he claimed they called: “handshake” to be confirmed as substantive D-G, or be kicked out of office.
According to Dauda, when he failed to accede to Kingibe’s demands, which included sidelining the National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, as well as draw huge sums of money, Kingibe ensured that the man who was his secretary at the panel, Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar, displaced him as NIA boss.
The revelations formed part of a petition Dauda sent the House of Representatives’ Committee on Security and Intelligence on the NIA $44m Intervention Fund.
The former NIA boss raised the alarm that but for his last minute decision to move the $44 million to the NSA’s office, Kingibe and Abubakar would have looted the entire money.
Aside collecting various sums of money under the guise of holidaying and medical treatment abroad, Dauda said Kingibe and Abubakar also formed the habit of blackmailing him into giving various sums of money in foreign currencies to their girlfriends.
The former NIA boss further stated that the sordid events led him to report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He claimed that his life was in danger, and begged the House of Representatives to guarantee his personal safety.
