Intelligence gathering: No room for failure, new CDI assures Tinubu

Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel Undiandeye, the new head of defence intelligence, has issued a warning to criminals and those plotting to harm the nation to drop the plan immediately.

When he officially took over the Defence Intelligence Agency from the outgoing CDI, Maj.-Gen. Samuel Adebayo, Undiandeye issued the warning on Friday in Abuja.

The current President and Commander-in-Chief, Bola Tinubu, he said, will not tolerate failure and warned the criminals to stay away from the “wrong side of the knife.”

According to the spy chief, intelligence gathering would be strengthened so that bad actors, especially rivals like bandits, terrorists, and other criminals, would not get their way.

 

He tasked intelligence officers with making sure that Nigerians go to sleep with their eyes closed by properly allocating the resources at their disposal.

“When I said there is no room for failure, what I really meant to say was that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces will never give us a task and then expect us to come back to him with a list of reasons why we failed.

“With all of the available resources, both human and material, I believe it is incumbent upon us to always succeed because insecurity results in the loss of human lives, and we must protect people from needless deaths.

We will prioritise stepping up our efforts. Second, we ought to act professionally. Thirdly, in everything we do, we must go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the people we are responsible for protecting are able to close their eyes at night.

He said: “Anyone who intends any evil and ill for our country will find himself on the receiving end of the knife.”

In keeping with the president’s directive to protect the nation from criminal elements, Undiandeye vowed that he would not fail the nation in the performance of his duties.

“I thank my predecessor for his efforts in projecting the agency; he fought for the agency’s independence, and I will continue to fly your flag,” he said.

“To the staff of the agency, the intelligence community, we need your support and guidance, correct us where we are getting things wrong so that we can adjust,” he continued.

The former CDI expressed his satisfaction at leaving the agency in the hands of a capable officer.

Adebayo claimed that he had specific goals when he joined the organisation and that he is leaving as a happy man.

“I’m relieved to be handing over control of the organisation to a capable officer so I can get some rest.

He said, “Dear Staff, please extend the same hand of fellowship to my successor so that he or she can lead the agency to greater heights.

NAN