Suspended NIA boss didn't cry in the Villa - Presidency

The Presidency has condemned the media reports that the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ayo Oke, had cried during his visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, who spoke on the incident in Abuja on Thursday, described the reports as “unfair and uncharitable.’’

He stated that witnesses to Oke’s visit to the Vice President on the fateful day and his own personal account clearly indicated that the DG did not cry as widely reported in the social and some traditional media.

The Presidential media aide, who narrated how the incident happened, said: “the widespread reports that Oke of the National Intelligence Agency had cried are unfair and uncharitable.

“Witnesses to his visit to the Vice President and his own personal account, said that Oke arrived to a swarm of journalists which he wanted to avoid.

“He asked his driver to make a quick turn and instead, he headed to the Glass House, the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS).

“From there, he put a call to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, and requested that he help to clear the journalists so that he can make a quiet entry to the VP’s office and that is what happened.

“In an SUV with darkened windows, no one could have seen an occupant crying.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday met separately with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal and the NIA DG, Ayo Oke, barely an hour after the announcement of Lawal’s and Oke’s suspension from office.

NAN gathered that the closed-door meeting was in connection with the work of the Presidential Committee set up to investigate allegations of misconduct against the SGF and the DG, NIA.

The SGF refused to comment on the outcome of his meeting with the Vice-President.