By Uche Mbah
Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Obediah Malafia, has been released by the Jos office of the Department of State Services, DSS, after six hours of interrogation by the spy agency. His arrest was subsequent upon his a trending video where he allegedly said that a serving Governor is a Commander of Boko Haram. He was answering a question on the killings in southern Kaduna.
Mailafia is a son of an evangelist from Kaduna state. Allegations of killings in southern Kaduna, a predominantly Christian area, has been rfe in recent times, with critics implying that the governor, Nasir el Rufai is not doing enough to curtail the menace.
Though there are indications that he may have been told to report at the DSS office at regular intervals, this Magazine learned that he was released after one Reverend Gideon Para offered himself as his surety.
Addressing the press after his release, Mailafia showed his gratitude to the media “for their courage”.
“Since yesterday there has been a lot of support voluntarily from the media, I want to thank them for their courage.
“If I had retracted anything, I don’t think I would have been able to leave this place because the youths of this country are fed up, all these killings have made people fed up.
“Those who tolerate it are committing great evil, we must remain steadfast, I love Nigeria, we must love our country.” youths were reported to have been protesting his arrest, calling for his release. But he said he is averse to evil and violence.
“We must seek the progress of our country, we must work for peace, my name means peace, I am a servant of the people, I don’t use violence and do not promote the use of violence,” he said
Dr Mailafia, was the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, the northern governors’ forum has called for a probe
In a statement Wednesday, the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said Mailafia’s allegation is weighty, and must be investigated.
“We, as Northern governors, have met severally to discuss insecurity in the region and the nation at large where we did not only condemn the activities of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, bandits and other criminals, but also engaged the President and all heads of security agencies in finding solutions to the problem’, he said.
