The Presidency on Tuesday night confirmed that erstwhile Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), Dr Sani Aliyu, resigned his appointment voluntarily.

The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who confirmed the development on his Facebook page in Abuja, dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the DG was sacked.

Shehu said: “Dr Sani Aliyu, the erstwhile Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids, resigned voluntarily and this was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“This distinguished Nigerian resigned in order to give full attention to his pursuit of an important UN job. In this regard, false reporting to the effect that he was sacked for one reason or the other is unhelpful to his legitimate aspiration. He left on his own.’’

The Permanent Secretary, General Services in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olusegun Adekunle, had on Tuesday via a statement announced the appointment of Gambo Aliyu as the new Director-General of NACA.

He said the appointment of the new head of NACA, which was approved by President Buhari, was in line with the provision of Section 8, Sub-Section (4) of National Agency for the Control of Aids (Establishment) Act, 2007.

Adekunle disclosed that Aliyu’s appointment as the Director-General of the agency was for an initial term of four years.(NAN)