President Tinubu has appointed Mohammed Mohammed as new boss for the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, to replace Ahmed Rufai who resigned from the position a few days ago. The president also appointed Adeola Ajayi to lead the Department of State Services, DSS.
In a statement on Monday, presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said the fresh appointments followed the resignations of Ahmed Rufai of the NIA and Yusuf Bichi of the DSS.
Tinubu had retained Rufai who was appointed by former president Muhammadu Buhari and had served for seven years, when he assumed position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces in June 2023 when he fired all service chiefs and heads of security agencies. Same applied to Bichi.
The new Director General of the NIA, Mohammed has had stellar performance 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.
Before his new appointment as DSS DG Ajayi rose through the ranks to attain the post of Assistant Director-General of the Service.
He had, at various times, served as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi.
“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,” Ngelale said.