Tinubu Appoints New Heads for NIA, DSS

 

President Bola Tinubu has appointed new Directors-General for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS), following the resignations of their former heads.

In a statement on Monday, presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale announced the appointments of Mohammed Mohammed as the new Director-General of the NIA and Adeola Ajayi as the Director-General of the DSS.

These changes come after the resignations of Ahmed Rufai from the NIA and Yusuf Bichi from the DSS.

Both Rufai and Bichi had been retained in June 2023 when President Tinubu dismissed all service chiefs and heads of security agencies, signaling a major reshuffle of the nation’s security architecture.

Mohammed Mohammed, the new head of the NIA, brings a wealth of experience from his distinguished career in the foreign service.

Since joining the NIA in 1995, he has served in various capacities, ultimately rising to the rank of Director. He was recently the head of the Nigerian mission in Libya. Mohammed is a 1990 graduate of Bayero University, Kano, and has also served in North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and at the State House, Abuja.

On the other hand, Adeola Ajayi, the newly appointed DSS Director-General, has a formidable background in domestic security. Ajayi has ascended through the ranks, achieving the position of Assistant Director-General before his current appointment. His extensive experience includes serving as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi states.

In his statement, Ngelale conveyed President Tinubu’s expectations for the new appointees.

“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 bedeviling the country through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and in surgical alignment with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),” Ngelale said.

The President also expressed his gratitude to the outgoing Directors-General for their dedicated service to the nation and wished them success in their future endeavors.