UPDATE: WHY I STEPPED DOWN AS NIA DG - AHMED ABUBAKAR

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The Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, on Saturday tendered his resignation letter to President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Briefing journalists at the State House after meeting with President Tinubu, the former NIA boss cited personal and family issues as his reasons for resigning from office.

“There are quite a number of reasons one will do that. Some personal family issues, but nothing very serious, actually, and the friendship will continue,” he said.

“I discussed with Mr. President, he understood very well, and I promised to remain steadfast with issues and the security situations of the country.”

He also expressed gratitude to the President for allowing him to serve for the first 15 months of the new administration, having occupied the office since 2018.

“After the briefing, I tendered my resignation and Mr. President graciously approved and accepted the resignation.

“I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to serve Nigeria under his transformational leadership for an extended period of 15 months, which is very rare,” Abubakar said.

Abubakar, a 71-year-old retired career foreign service officer from Katsina State, joined the security department of the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1993.

In 2015, he was appointed senior special assistant to the president (SSAP) on international relations and foreign affairs.

He attended Bayero University in Kano, where he bagged bachelor’s and master’s degrees in French. He also speaks English and Arabic.