Appointments of new Intelligence chiefs in Nigeria raise hopes of new push against insecurity, trigger questions about presidential motive

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Announcement of new appointments to Nigeria’s top intelligence agencies by the country’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have raised hopes amongst stakeholders of a determined push to address troubling levels of insecurity in the country. It has also raised questions about the timing and reasons for the changes.

The appointments were announced following the resignations of the Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), tasked with overseeing foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations, Ahmed Abubakar, and the Department of State Service (DSS), responsible for homeland security, Yusuf Magaji Bichi.

The new appointees are Mohammed Mohammed, a seasoned diplomat and former head of Nigeria’s mission to Libya, who will lead the NIA, and Adeola Ajayi, who will be at the helm of the DSS.

The replacements take their positions in what has been described by sources as a long-anticipated move to fill the top positions with the president’s loyalists as he drives through his government’s security agenda.

There have been a lot of speculations about the reasons for the removal of the two former heads. One report insinuates that the two former heads are the fall guys for the president’s push against worrying levels of insecurity. There have been reports that the President has been unimpressed with the results of the agencies so far.

This, however, may not be purely speculative. The country remains under the grip of banditry in the north, which has seen some high-profile victims, including a prominent northern traditional head who was killed while being held captive by bandits.

An insurgency by the Islamist groups, Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) has continued to impose restrictions on movements in some parts of the country’s northeast.

Another twist comes with reports of a major legal debacle. A local daily reported sources within the presidential villa as saying that Abubakar’s and Bichi’s replacements were linked to the embarrassing seizures of Nigeria’s assets by Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, a Chinese firm that has won several legal battles against the government in European courts for wrongful termination of contract and has been enforcing legal judgment by auctioning Nigerian government assets granted it by the courts.

“The seizure of Nigeria’s assets was an embarrassment to the President and the DG of NIA took the easy way out when he realized that he will be sacked,” the report said.

However, security watchers say it appears that the replacement of the two spy chiefs fits into the government’s efforts to reshape its security architecture for effective implementation of its own strategy.

In spite of the usual conspiracy theories that greet these appointments, it has always been routine for Nigerian presidents to fill these positions with individuals with whom they can work closely and who fit in with their own agendas. In that context, the changes were anticipated.

It is not certain if Tinubu followed the usual considerations that have previously determined such appointments. The heads of these two agencies, particularly, are the two closest intelligence officers to the president and his eyes and ears on all top security issues.

There has been a pattern in Nigeria of appointing individuals from the same geopolitical zone as the president. Both former heads of the agencies, who are from the country’s North, were appointed by Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, also from the north. Bichi was pulled from retirement to head the DSS on 14 September 2018, replacing Matthew Seiyefa, who hailed from the country’s Niger-Delta, and appointed by former president Jonathan, also from the Niger-Delta.

The new NIA boss is from the Nupe ethnic stock in the north-central state of Kwara, different from Tinubu’s Yoruba ethnic group in the south west, where the new head of the DSS hails from, however.

This does not undermine what many have described as the significant professional achievements of the two men. Ambassador Mohammed has had an illustrious career in the foreign service since joining the NIA in 1995.

He served in various roles, leading to his promotion to the rank of Director and his subsequent appointment as the head of the Nigerian mission to Libya. He served in North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and at the State House, in the country’s capital, Abuja.

The new DSS head, 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 several Nigerian states before his new appointment.

Ajayi, for his part, is a respected operative within intelligence circles who has been celebrated for his people skills.

Some rights activists say the new appointment is a refreshing change from the tenure of the former DSS boss, Bichi, described by some sources as an era of “victimisation & intimidation.” There were even allegations that a child of his had acquired a reputation for violence and abuse of the privileges of his father’s office. For a head of an intelligence agency, many wonder how his family’s matters were in the public eye.

Many say Bichi’s tenure was also characterised by disrespect for the country’s judiciary. Instances of unprecedented incursions into courtrooms to make arrests, suppression of journalism, and blatant harassment of dissenting voices became the hallmarks of the organisation under his management, some rights activists allege.

While some of these claims have not been substantiated, they raise concerns about the record left behind by the Intelligence chief.

A burning question that has been asked is what would happen with the case of the leader of the Biafran separatist movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, whose arrest and detention was executed under Bichi.

It is not certain if Ajayi would accede to several court demands for Kanu’s release, or keep him detained as his release has been described by some government officials as a risk to national security.,

While announcing their replacements, the statement released by President Tinubu’s Office said he expected 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 hope is that these appointments would bring a major change in the approach to fighting insurgencies across the country. The president’s speech clearly captures this desire. However, it is not certain to what extent these changes will turn things around.