By Abiola Olawale
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the appointment of new Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS).
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
In the statement, Ngelale confirmed that the President accepted the resignation of Yusuf Magaji Bichi, replacing him with Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi as the new Director-General of the DSS.
Also, has named Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed as the new Director-General of the NIA.
The appointment of Mohammed came after the former NIA DG, Rufai Abubakar, on Saturday evening, tendered his resignation letter to President Tinubu.
The statement reads in part: “Ambassador Mohammed has had an illustrious career in the foreign service since joining the NIA in 1995. He had served in various roles, culminating in his promotion to the rank of Director and his subsequent appointment as the head of the Nigerian mission to Libya.
“The 1990 graduate of Bayero University, Kano, had served in North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and at the State House, Abuja.
“The new DSS Director-General, Mr Adeola Ajayi, rose through the ranks to attain his current post of Assistant Director-General of the Service. He had, at various times, served as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi.
“The new appointments follow the resignation of the previous NIA and DSS chiefs.
“President Tinubu expects that the new security chiefs will work assiduously to reposition the two intelligence agencies for better results and charges them to bring their experience to bear in tackling the security challenges bedevilling the country through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and in surgical alignment with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
“The President thanks the outgoing Directors-General of the two pivotal intelligence agencies for their services to the nation while wishing them success in their future endeavours.”
