By John Ohioma
Dr Obadiah Mailafia, an academic, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), failed Presidential candidate, has just survived another “ordeal” in the hands of the Directorate of State Security Service, DSS.
He was, for the third time, invited by the DSS, to its Jos Command office to make some more clarifications on the grave, sensitive submissions he made, about a month ago, on the state of the Nation, during an interview session with a Radio Station.
The way Dr Obadiah sounded before he went to honour his invitation, one would think he was on a visit to hell. One would think he was going to be nailed to a cross, having declared himself, as part of his playing to the gallery, a martyr.
A couple of days to the September 14 visit to the DSS, Obadiah had issued an alarming statement to announce the invitation. He said he did not know why he was being invited again. He said his life was in danger. He said he was not sure he would come out alive. He summoned all his friends and associates, supporters, and just about everybody, to descend on the DSS office in Jos.
It was a call to arms, meant to intimidate the Service, incite the public against it, and detract from the seriousness of the trouble he brought upon himself.
For record purposes, even though his ill-advised statement went viral, this writer pleads that you read it again.
He wrote:
“Dear Comrades, Beloved Brethren, I have once again (for the 3rd time) been ordered to appear before the DSS at their Jos HQ this coming Monday 14th September, at 11.00 am.
“This is in addition to our battle in court, as my lawyer appears before a Jos High Court today Friday the 11th, seeking a restraining order against the DIG Criminal Investigations Department (CID) who are also pursuing me.
“I spent over 20 years of my working life abroad as a university teacher, banker and international civil servant with unblemished record. I have no criminal record — not even a parking ticket. Sadly, it is in my own fatherland that I’m being subjected to criminal investigation and such extreme political persecution.
“Please, pray for me. I have reasons to believe that my life is in danger and that some powerful political forces want to silence me 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. Please, those of you in the Jos area or who can easily travel to Jos, please kindly mobilise and be there en masse to support me on Monday at 11.00 am as I go once again into the Lions’ Den.
“I’m a believer in non-violence. Please, no-one should throw even a little stone on my behalf. Let us become candles of light and peace in this Age of Darkness.
“Thank you so immensely and may God bless you all.
Obadiah Mailafia”
Dr Mailafia’s statement attracts sympathy. But don’t be deceived. It drips of mischief, and a deliberate distortion of the account he gave, himself, of his two previous encounters with the DSS. Without being prompted, he had said his experience with the personnel of the Service was cordial. He said he was treated with respect. He said his interrogators were very courteous to him. He said he was not in anyway harrassed. He said their discussion held in a relaxed environmental. Yet, in his inciting call to arms, he said he was going into the “lion’s den again.”
In his column, which appeared in the Vanguard of September 14, the day he went to honour his invitation to the DSS, he had expressed the same alarming fears. He remembered that Chief MKO Abiola died after “drinking tea in the Villa”. He talked about a dungeon, somewhere, at the Kirikiri Prison, Lagos where a fence separates Prisoners from Crocodiles, and where Prisoners are routinely fed to the crocodiles.
True? But that is just Dr Mailafia again. Ask him for proof, he will have none. He picks gossips from market places and beer palours, and, with a straight face, and gusto, presents them as gospel truth.
What irks most in his write-up in the Vanguard was where he wrote: “What perplexes in my current travails is that I did not say anything that has not been said before.”
Mailafia, perhaps, rightly loves to flaunt his academic accomplishments and international exposure.
Nothing wrong with that. But for a man who parades, and flaunts, those accomplishments, his reasoning falls to the lowest ebb. He neither talks like a diplomat, an international scholar or a banker who rose to the enviable office of the CBN DG. His reasoning is very elementary. So, because other people had said the same things before, he copied and repeated them without interrogating the contents in order to remove the chaff from the wheat. What, then, is the difference between him and an unexposed stark illiterate?
His reasoning is so pedestrian, very elementary. So, because somebody killed, and got away with it, others should go on a killing spree, and get away with their actions too.
In case Dr Mailafia does not still understand, the reason why Security Personnel picked interest in him is because the allegations were made by him. If they were made by a nobody, nobody would have taken them seriously. But for somebody of his status – an academic, international Civil servant, former DG, CBN, a Senior Directing Staff at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, a former Presidential candidate – it will be stupid to ignore.
Perhaps, Dr Mailafia does still not understand the gravity of his public allegations. He needs to be reminded.
He said, with all authority, supported by the weight of his credentials that:
*The insurgents, terrorising Nigeria, were on Phase 1.
*The second phase would entail their invading the cities and slaughtering prominent Nigerians.
* A Civil war will break out in 2022.
* Insurgents have invaded the forests in the Southern part of Nigeria.
*All through the lockdown period, no flghts, no inter-state movements, insurgents freely used airplanes, and deposited arms in parts of Nigeria.
*A serving Northern Governor is a Commander of the Boko Haram.
Mailafia said he had his intelligence channels, and that he got the information from repented Boko Haram Commanders with whom he had interacted, not only once, or twice, or thrice, but many times.
These were what he authoritatively said, and he expected Security Personnel to clap for him, and/or not invite him for clarifications. Where does that happen?
So far, Dr Mailafia has been decently handled. He confirms that. He has been treated with respect. He confirms that too. He says he had not been harrassed in anyway.
So, what does he want? What pushes him? What does he stand to gain by being an alarmist? What does he gain by double speaking? Why does he tell the DSS something else, and says another thing thereafter?
Why wouldn’t he apologise, publicly, for mis-speaking instead of playing to the gallery?
Till date, Dr Mailafia has not been able to prove or establish his allegations. He would apologise behind closed doors, and once outside, plays to the gallery. That belittles his status, and subtracts from his credibility.
Why does he not admit he lied? Why does he not say he spoke like a politician that he is, with an eye on the fall- out.
He has since admitted, according to the DSS, that no Boko Haram Commander spoke to him. He said he heard what he said from traders in a market. He has not named the Governor involved because he knows nobody told him that.
When he was released after his first invitation, he admitted he ought to have collaborated his story before going public. He just read the situation on ground, and drew his conclusions.
He knew that the false allegations he made would be popular, given the state of the Nation so, he ran with it. But what does anybody, at his level, gain by deliberately over-heating the polity.
On Monday, he said he was going to the lion’s den. But has, now, admitted that he mis-spoke, that he did not mean it that way, that he should have chosen his words more carefully than he did.
Why is he over-impulsive? Why does he, in the instant case, always mis-speak?
It is deliberate.
Nobody is happy about the security situation in the country. Most Nigerians are worried sick. The killings are getting out of hand. Only evil minds would condone it. But it is irresponsible to take advantage of the bad situation, and worsen it.
Mailafia is lucky he is dealing with a decent Service, which Leadership is polished and professional. Otherwise, he would, since, have been given the treatment he so desperately yearns for.
He says he is a patriot. He should prove that by apologising for the misinformation he has so brazenly spread. He should apologise for brazenly indulging in scare-mongering.
When he does, it should mark an end to his invitations by Security Agencies.
