A Jos High Court will on September 29 determine whether the Police should exercise the authority to investigate in a suit instituted by embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, seeking to stop the Police from commencing criminal investigations against him over comments he made in a radio station interview regarding the insecurity in parts of the north.
The court chose the date after hearing the arguments of Obadiah’s lawyers and the Police last Friday.
The court’s position is coming as groups in Jos, Plateau State began to mobilise to protect him as he meets with the Department of State Services (DSS) in the state capital. Others have saturated the social media with calls for prayer.
Many wonder why he is being singled out for persecution when others have made worse allegations and comments on the state of the nation. Some allege persecution on account of ethno-religious leanings.
The former Central Bank chief had, in a viral video, alleged that a governor in one of the northern states was a Boko Haram commander, claiming he got the information from credible sources and former commanders of the terrorist group. He was to later say it was Fulani traders in a market that gave him the information.
Shortly after his first meeting with the DSS, he resigned his position as a Directing Staff of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, denying he was forced to leave.
A viral message, believed to have been sent by persons sympathetic to Malafia, announced he has been ordered to appear before the DSS for the third time at their Jos office.
The message noted that Mailafia spent over 20 years of my working life abroad as a university teacher, banker and international civil servant with unblemished record.
It adds that he had no criminal record — not even a parking ticket , saying that it is in his fatherland that he is being subjected to criminal investigation and such extreme political persecution.
The friends allege his life is in danger and that some powerful political forces want to silence him forever for speaking the truth. “For speaking on behalf of the holy martyrs — of thousands of innocent children, women, elderly and youths that have been killed in our beloved country. It is only in our benighted country that a man who speaks from his conscience can be hounded like a common criminal,” the viral message added.
The message called for prayers, urging those coming to solidarity with him at the DSS office not to be violent when they show up on Monday.
Meanwhile, the leadership of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has expressed worry at Mailafia’s invitation.
Said Jonathan Asake, SOKAPU’s President in a Sunday statement: “We are worried that this is the third time that the nation’s secret police is inviting Dr Obadiah to appear in its Jos office over a radio interview he granted. It is now undoubtably obvious that these series of summons are aimed at not only intimidating the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but also throwing him into an abyss of frightening uncertainties in a bid to force him into silence.
“This is not the first time a prominent Nigerian would come up with what Dr Mailafia came up with in his radio interview.
“That the DSS has continued to be on the trail of this distinguished son of Southern Kaduna who is a national patriot reveals that an unsavory plot orchestrated by certain elements in the security agencies to coerce him into silence may be in the offing.
“Dr. Mailafia has every reason to warn against any further threats to our dear country, real or perceived, moreso, that today, over 101 communities of Southern Kaduna where he hails from are literally captured, the natives chased away and are now occupied by armed Fulani militia, where the native owners of these lands have been living in dehumanizing conditions as IDPs, mostly in neighbouring communities. What has the DSS and the Nigeria state done about it? Nothing!
“SOKAPU therefore, wishes to state without any form of equivocation that we hold Dr. Mailafia in high esteem and very proud of his scholarly footprints in both national and international arena. As a Union, we are in total agreement with the disclosures made by the erudite scholar and technocrat. As he rightly said without doubt, the current gale of killings in our rural communities are deliberately sponsored and a part of a bigger agenda to cause anarchy with the ultimate objective of taking over our ancestral lands.
“We recall that in the past, there have been prominent people who came up with similar disturbing disclosures, but no such invitation was ever extended to them for questioning. For instance, officials of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) had in many instances claimed responsibility over deadly attacks on communities, but the response from the security agencies has always remained an embarrassing silence.
“We also recall an instance when a university don who was teaching at the North-West University Kano, Professor Umar Labdo Muhammed, caused a national outrage when he recklessly declared that by right of conquest, Benue State belongs to the Northern Caliphate. Despite the tension and outrage displayed by Nigerians, the university teacher was allowed to roam the street unmolested by the security agencies.
“Amidst the bloodshed and waves of attack that rocked the country in June 2018, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, declared in a media interview that Nigeria belongs to the Fulani. Reacting to Bodejo’s reckless and unguarded statement, the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria immediately called for his arrest and interrogation, but the DSS played the ostrich and never invited him for questioning till date.
“In a similar manner, Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State shocked his audience on national television when he disclosed that he had traced the foreign attackers of Southern Kaduna communities to Mali and other countries where he paid them compensation to stop their murderous expedition in the area. Nearly four years after this disclosure, the bloodbaths in Southern Kaduna have not ceased, rather, it’s on the increase. If indeed security agencies were genuinely concerned in resolving the insecurity ravaging the people, why have the security organisations not invited Governor el-Rufai to unveil those he paid the compensation to?
“More frightening, the Kaduna State Governor declared during a television programme that foreign observers who dated to interfere in the conduct of the 2019 polls would return to their various countries in body bags. Despite the bewilderment expressed by Nigerians and other global citizens, not even a whimper was heard from the security agencies.
“There are several instances where security agents have developed cold feet in inviting top officials for a chat in order to further open up on certain issues with the view of staving off further bloodbath. Why has it remained impossible for DSS to invite MACBAN officials who had always claimed responsibility for attacks, claiming such attacks as revenge or reprisals?
“Dr. Obadiah has not done anything evil to earn these incessant invitations. SOKAPU totally condemns the invitation by the DSS for the former presidential candidate to appear before the secret police this Monday for the third time. By constantly inviting the global scholar to appear before it for questioning, the DSS seems to be embarking on a deliberate ploy aimed at coercively silencing Dr. Obadiah. We believe that the radio interview by the Oxford-trained Economist which has now become the subject of grilling sessions by the secret police contains leading facts that could be worked on by security agents to end the current bloodshed.
“As Dr. Mailafia prepares to honour the third invitation tomorrow, September 14, 2020, SOKAPU wishes to place on record that should any evil be visited on him, the DSS should be held responsible. SOKAPU calls on men and women of good conscience in Nigeria and the international community to rise up against this apparent dictatorship and stop further persecution of Dr. Mailafia over his audacity to stand up for truth and patriotism.
“We call on Nigerian patriots and groups engaged in the battle for a better tomorrow for our nation not to relent but speak up against the deliberate attempt at bullying a voice that has courageously spoken for us all.
“We believe that the lives of Southern Kaduna people matter, and there can be no acceptance of this reality than for all to unite and stop further persecution and hounding of Dr. Mailafia for daring to expose the forces that threaten our corporate existence as a nation.”
