Jubilation as 2 Nigerians are elected to head Africa’s intelligence services organisation

Two Nigerians have been appointed to head the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) as chairman and executive secretary, respectively.

While Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar was appointed the chairman of the organisation to serve for one year, Hajia Zainab Ali-Kotoko would work as its executive secretary for five years.

According to PRNigeria, the historic appointments mean that Nigeria could effectively leverage on the continental intelligence services to deal with national, regional and continental security threats.

It was learnt that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who brought the 16th ordinary CISSA conference to a close in Abuja, commended the two new elected officials from Nigeria.

With his election, Abubakar takes over from Ambassador BK Likando of the Namibian intelligence service until the next conference in Cairo, Egypt.

Also, Ali-Kotoko replaces Shimeles W Semayat and will run the Ethiopia-based CISSA secretariat for the next five years.

“By your decision, Nigeria has ascended the position of chairmanship for the next one year and you have also appointed Zainab Ali-Kotoko as the executive secretary of CISSA for the next five years.

“As Nigeria assumes the mantle of CISSA’s leadership for the 2019/2020 session, your collective focus should be on promoting shared goals and objectives and maximizing the impact of this organization across Africa,” Mustapha said.

The SGF expressed belief that there is no limit to what can be achieved as a continent when its citizens work together.

He also noted that Illicit Financial Outflows (IFOs) and corruption remained hydra-headed monsters, with one feeding the other in what is clearly, a symbiotic relationship.

“We must defeat both threats to free Africa’s wealth for the development of our various countries.

“We are not unaware of the enormity of the task but we remain focused and undaunted, bearing in mind the colossal implications of the threat to our national life,” he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the re-appointment of his personal physician, Suhayb Rafindadi, and 10 other personal staff.

The president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja on Friday, July 5.

MSN