UPDATE: NIA DG Tenders Resignation Over Seized Presidential Jet

The Director of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, has tendered his resignation to President Bola Tinubu over what was considered a failure to secure national assets.

As announced on Saturday, Abubakar cited personal and family reasons for his resignation.

Nothing very serious,” he stated while addressing journalists at the State Villa in Abuja, adding that it is not for him to speak on the reaction of the President.

Following the news outbreak, West Africa Weekly can confirm Abubakar’s resignation resulted from the earlier seized presidential jet caused by a legal dispute between the federal government, Ogun State, and a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd.

According to the source, the NIA’s job was to know and avert such embarrassing scenarios for a sovereign nation like Nigeria, particularly in protecting national assets.

Prior to his resignation, the seized presidential jets included a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in France, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland.

Two of the jets were recently put up for sale while the Nigerian government purchased the Airbus 330 and was waiting for delivery. The Nigerian government reportedly paid over $100 million for the Airbus, which has now been delivered.

Another jet was a Bombardier 6000 BD-700-1A10 aircraft in Montreal, Canada, which was initially seized from fugitive Dan Etete following a $350 million windfall from the controversial sale of the OPL 245 oil field in 2010.

The seizure, as sanctioned by a court in Paris, France, and another in Canada, in honour of an application filed by the Chinese company against the Ogun State government and the federal government of Nigeria, was seen as an international embarrassment among politicians and Nigerians home and abroad.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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