The National Intelligence Agency, NIA, has revealed why the agency blocked attempt to arrest its former DG, Ambassador Ayodele Oke.
NIA operatives, last year, blocked officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from taking Oye for questioning.
The face-off led to a Senate investigation.
On Thursday, the acting Director General of the Agency, Ambassador Mohammed Dauda, addressed the matter when he appeared before a Senate ad hoc committee.
Dauda said the move to arrest the former DG was first reported in the media even before the EFCC concluded on its position on the issue.
He added that NIA was a secret service whose operation were clandestine and highly classified.
Dauda explained that it was normal to shield the agency from further negative publicity.
The Acting DG said there was no official communication to the agency from the EFCC on the exact mission of its operatives to the “residence” of Oke.
Dauda denied knowledge of any letter from the Acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, requesting for the surrender of the former DG of the NIA, adding that the only letter received from the EFCC chairman was a threat to report the conduct of the NIA to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He regretted that the EFCC under Magu had been hostile to and uncooperative with the NIA, leading to the massive withdrawal of NIA operatives from the service of the EFCC.
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