How I Stopped Kingibe, Kyari, Rufai, From Stealing $44m - Former Acting DG Of NIA

In a disclosure made through a brief to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, the immediate past Acting DG of the National Intelligence Agency has made some shocking revelations.

Immediate past Acting Director-General (D-G) of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr Mohammed Dauda, has disclosed that he fought off attempts by Messrs. Babagana Kingibe, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and his protégé and incumbent D-G of the NIA, Mr. Rufai Abubakar, and Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari's Chief of Staff, to steal $44million NIA intervention fund.

The disclosure was made in a brief to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence.

In the brief, exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, Mr. Dauda said he assumed office as Acting D-G on 6 November 2017, following a brief meeting with Mr. Kyari at the Presidential Villa. The Chief of Staff, he said, conveyed the President's directive to him that he should function in acting capacity while waiting for further directives.

On leaving the Presidential Villa, Mr. Dauda said he headed straight to have a meeting with Mr. Arab Yadam, who was D-G in acting capacity but was retiring. The meeting, he said, dwelt on what the retiring Acting D-G did in the seven months during which he ran the agency.

The briefing, said Mr. Dauda, comprised his administrative, operational and technical duties, all of which were highly confidential. Mr. Yadam also gave his successor the picture of the agency's financial position, which included $44million he informed was part of the intervention fund that brought the Ikoyi scandal.

After the briefing, Mr. Yadam introduced Mr. Dauda to Brigadier-General Mohammed Ja'afaru, the Acting Director of Finance and Administration (DFA), who briefed him on the nature of the agency's assignments. Among these are the daily operations of the accounts for both domestic and foreign management.

The Acting DFA also told Mr. Dauda that the $44million in his custody, which was not part of the agency's budgetary allocation, should not be touched because it had become an exhibit in an ongoing case. The purpose of the disclosure, Mr. Dauda said, was for his information.

Not long after Mr. Dauda assumed office, the Presidential Review Panel (PRP), headed by Mr. Kingibe, started its assignment in NIA. The agency provided the members office space, living accommodation, food and other logistics. Aside from Mr. Kingibe, other members include Mr. Albert K. Horsfall, a for D-G of the State Security Service; Mr. Olaniyi Oladeji, Mr. ZY Ibrahim and the current DG, NIA, Mr. Abubakar, who was PRP Secretary.

After the maiden meeting with the panel, said Mr. Dauda, Mr. Kingibe called him to advise that in his own interest, he should cooperate with them fully and avoid being close with the National Security Adviser. Mr. Kingibe also disclosed that they had presidential powers to overrule previous instructions or directives issued by the NSA.

"I was instructed to channel to channel all our activities, contacts, concerns and complaints through the Office of the Chief of Staff only," said Mr. Dauda.

He said the instructions left him in discomfort, as they contradict all the provisions of the agency's instruments. Not wanting to start on a confrontational note, he kept away from the NSA as instructed.

Things, he said, went on smoothly until Messrs. Kingibe and Abubakar kept pressuring him for money. Mr. Dauda said he explained that the agency's dollar account was low because of the difficulty in sourcing dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria, following the crises that arose from the Ikoyi money.

However, the replied that the $44m in the custody of the Acting DFA belongs to the agency and that the DFA had no power to stop Mr. Dauda from spending the money.

They added that since the crisis had blown over, Mr. Dauda should go and tell the Brigadier-Gene