{"id":57260,"date":"2017-04-15T16:24:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-15T15:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=57260"},"modified":"2017-04-15T16:24:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-15T15:24:06","slug":"nia-never-briefed-buhari-covert-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nia-never-briefed-buhari-covert-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"NIA Never Briefed Buhari On Any \u2018Covert\u2019 Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) never briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on its \u2018covert projects\u2019 being supposedly financed with the monies recovered from an Ikoyi flat, presidency sources have told TheCable.<\/p>\n<p>This has further raised suspicion that the monies were being warehoused for individual use and not for official purposes.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1039533697\"><span class=\"aQJ\">On Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, EFCC said it discovered $43.4m, \u00a327,800 and N23.2m in a house in Ikoyi, Lagos following a tip-off from a whistle blower.<\/p>\n<p>There was a flurry of speculation on who actually owns the money, with names of prominent Nigerians being mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>The NIA stepped up to claim ownership, saying the funds were approved by former president Goodluck Jonathan for \u201ccovert\u201d security projects.<\/p>\n<p>However, government insiders have informed TheCable that \u201cit is a rooster and bull story\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is impossible, probably treasonable, that a security agency will be carrying out covert operations without the knowledge of the sitting president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president has been in power for nearly two years now and not once did the NIA DG mention any such project to him, either at security meetings or one-on-one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom what we know so far, funds were indeed approved by Jonathan for the agency in late 2014. But like the monies released for Boko Haram operations, the funds were diverted for non-security use. That is why they ended up in a private residence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears the funds were diverted for the 2015 elections but some smarter guys kept part for personal use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Ayodele Oke, the NIA director-general, was appointed by Jonathan in November 2013 and [RETAINED] by Buhari, even though he replaced other security chiefs in August 2015.<\/p>\n<p>While the Ikoyi operation was underway <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1039533698\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, Oke was reported to have run to the office of Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC chairman, to inform him that there were \u201ccovert\u201d security funds in the flat being searched by the operatives.<\/p>\n<p>However, TheCable understands that Oke only told Magu that there were \u201csensitive documents\u201d in the house and pleaded that EFCC should abort the operation.<\/p>\n<p>A security official who spoke to TheCable <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1039533699\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Friday<\/span><\/span> said \u201cthat was what gave away the game\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOke had never mentioned any discreet project being executed by NIA since he started holding security meetings with the president in June 2015,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe never mentioned anything of this nature to the president in private either. For him to be coming up with this story in April 2017 \u2014 for the first time \u2014 there is a clear case of an attempted cover-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gordon Obuah, the chief security officer to Jonathan from 2010-2015, died suddenly <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1039533700\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Thursday<\/span><\/span> after a \u201cmassive heart attack\u201d, leading to speculation that he might also have known about the funds.<\/p>\n<p>He was being investigated separately by the DSS over security funds linked to him and had his movement curtailed by the secret police in the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>UNANSWERED QUESTIONS<\/p>\n<p>Several posers are being raised which further put a dent on NIA\u2019s claims of ownership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo start with, if the president, if the national security adviser and if other security chiefs were never aware of covert projects until now, that in itself is a big problem,\u201d another top official said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecond, if NIA needs such a huge amount of money in Nigeria, it has enough safes in fortified offices to keep it. It does not need an unprotected private residence. It makes no sense to keep the funds in a private residence without putting operatives on guard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThird, if a covert project was approved and monies were collected more than two years ago, are the projects still being executed? Why was no progress report filed with the president? Budgets are released yearly and unspent funds are retired yearly. There is also no record that the NIA sought exemption or got approval to keep the monies away from TSA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The source said the president is awaiting reports from the national security adviser, Babagana Monguno, before taking further action.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) never briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on its \u2018covert projects\u2019 being supposedly financed with the monies recovered from an Ikoyi flat, presidency sources have told TheCable.&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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