by Azeez Adeniyi

Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku has warned that the report of the probe on the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) should not be made public.

Former Minister of External Affairs, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi had issued the same warning on Monday.

Anyaoku in a statement issued Monday night said, ”Apart from my intervention that led to the signing of the Abuja Accord by all the presidential candidates in the run-up to the 2015 national elections, I do not normally issue public statements on developments within our country.

[Read Also: REPORT ON PROBE OF NIA MUST NOT BE MADE PUBLIC – EX-MINISTER]

”But because of its gravity, I feel compelled to publicly express my full support for the statement by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi on the need to stop leaking secrets on NIA which I have just read in our media while on a visit to London. 

”It is common practice by responsible governments throughout the world for only the Head of Government and his/her very few appropriate Ministers to be involved in the operations of the nation’s external secret service.

”While not sparing every effort to check corruption, to expand the scope of such involvement would be doing huge damage to the security of the state.”