President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

This was made known in a statement on Monday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.

Tinubu appointed Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed as the new Director-General of the NIA.

The President also replaced Yusuf Magaji Bichi with Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi is the new Director-General of the DSS.

The statement reads: “Ambassador Mohammed has had an illustrious career 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.

“The new DSS Director-General, Mr. Adeola Ajayi, rose through the ranks to attain his current post of Assistant Director-General of the Service. He had, at various times, served as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi.

“The new appointments follow the resignation of the previous NIA and DSS chiefs.

“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).

“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.”

Recall that the former NIA DG, Ahmed Abubakar, on Saturday evening, tendered his resignation letter to President Tinubu.

Abubakar after a brief meeting with the President said personal and family issues were among his reasons for resigning from office.

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

When asked why he resigned, Abubakar said, “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.

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

“It’s a routine thing, from time to time, to brief Mr. President on situations, on issues, and today is no exception.

“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.”