The
National Security Organisation was established after the
assassination of
Murtala Muhammed with legal instrument Decree Number 27 of 1976 to co-ordinate internal security, foreign intelligence and
counterintelligence activities; this was part of a larger reorganisation that saw the demobilisation of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigerian Civil Service. The Decree did not establish the position of the national security adviser, but it did create a director-general in charge of the staff. In 1979, the NSO became part of the Executive Office of the President under Shehu Shagari. The Shagari administration maintained the NSO and appointed
Bukar Shaib special adviser on national security, who was later succeeded in 1983 by Shehu Ahmad Said Galadanchi. These two were special advisers to the president and not national security advisers. The
coup d'etat of 1983 led to the promulgation of Decree Number 2 of 1984 by Muhammadu Buhari, which entrusted the NSO with unprecedented powers "to detain without charge persons suspected of acts prejudicial to state security or harmful to the economic well-being of the country": the detention of individuals deemed to be enemies of the state without charge, and the limitation of civil rights and individual liberties transformed the NSO's mandate from its main focus on national security to regime
state security with the state persecuting individuals through intimidation, harassment and secret imprisonment. Decree Number 19 of 1986 (National Security Agencies Act) created the position of
Coordinator of National Security in 1986 and Aliyu Gusau was appointed as national security coordinator by Ibrahim Babangida. In this new role, Gusau coordinated the dismantling of the NSO (who's notoriety had led to the fall of the Buhari regime) into three succeeding agencies, the
State Security Service, the
National Intelligence Agency and the
Defence Intelligence Agency. Gusau later became the first military national security adviser in 1993 merging both roles as coordinator of national security and national security adviser under the Office of the National Security Adviser. Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta was the first civilian national security adviser in 1990 during the Babangida administration. The politico-military situation of the early 1990s required the need for a central body for coordination, control and supervision of national security. Jimeta at the time did not have a schedule of operation for his new office, during the move of the seat of government from Lagos to Abuja, and most national security issues then were still tentatively under the purview of the
Coordinator of National Security. The system established has remained largely unchanged since then, particularly since President Ibrahim Babangida signed into law the National Security Agencies Act of 1986, except for under
Sani Abacha when his chief bodyguard
Hamza al-Mustapha was in charge of security for the regime. The return to democracy under the
Constitution of Nigeria in 1999 established the
National Security Council (NSC). Aliyu Gusau held the office twice in the
Fourth Republic under President
Olusegun Obasanjo's administration he enhanced the importance of the office, controlling the flow of information to the president and meeting with him multiple times per day. Gusau also holds the distinction of serving as national security adviser under both the
military dictatorship and non-consecutive democratic administrations: the Obasanjo administration and the
Goodluck Jonathan administration. The Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2013 empowered the national security adviser establishing the National Counter-Terrorism Centre under his office to coordinate national security in response to the
Boko Haram insurgency. Gusau holds the record for total term of interspersed service (2,906 days); and his deputy Kayode Are holds the record for shortest term, at just 17 days in an acting role. == List ==