DSS Blasts Mailafia For Standing By His Claims After Apologizing Profusely

The Department of State Services (DSS) has linked the recent allegations made by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafiya, to its earlier alert about desperate efforts by some notable personalities to use their exalted positions to engage in divisive acts as well as use inciting statements to pit one group against another.

AllNews recalls that Mailafia had during a radio programme on Monday said that repentant Boko Haram members had revealed to him that a serving Northern governor was a commander of the terrorist group and that the terrorists were planning to plunge the country into another civil war by 2022.

Addressing his supporters after being grilled at the Jos office of the DSS on Wednesday, the former presidential candidate said, “What I want to say is that, yes, all of those words were made by me, you know if the whole of the 55 minutes was played out, the context of what I said in a small clip that went viral would have become clearer.

“This is is not the time to disown what I said. Yes, I was privy to some very sensitive information which all statesmen are entitled to have by virtue of our public roles. I know that I should have taken more care to corroborate some of the information I received, but perhaps some of it was uncorroborated. I was in no position to follow them to the camp to corroborate what was going on.

“But I am not a sensationalist, I am an economist and a central banker, by nature we are not given to sensation.”

Speaking on the development on Friday, the secret police regretted that “Mailafiya, who had profusely apologized during his visit to the Service’s Plateau State Command for his ignoble statement, would, afterward, announce to the world that he stood by his misguided eruption”.

DSS, in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Peter Afunanya, asserted that the recent outburst of Mailafia was aimed at playing to the gallery and creating unnecessary tension since he never took advantage of these to reach any of the security or related agencies to share the so-called information at his disposal.

It added that the utterances of Mailafiya, who is currently a Directing Staff at Nigeria’s foremost Policy Research Institute, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, suggest mischief and determination to use the fake news he spewed to incite the people under his control.

“Similarly, the Service also wishes to warn others, who in the guise of political mobilization and supposed pursuit of group interests, engage in hostile and subversive activities, to desist forthwith from advancing their inimical and parochial causes. The Service will not stand idly and watch disgruntled and aggrieved elements take laws into their hands and cause mayhem in the polity.

“In line with its mandate of detecting and preventing threats and crimes against the internal security of Nigeria, the Service hereby reiterates its previous warning that it will henceforth not condone unruly conducts of persons and groups that ought to know better.

“In this regard, it will not hesitate to, within the confines of the law, decisively deal with such persons and/or groups, no matter how highly placed, that may wish to test its resolve. It will, nonetheless, continue to support participatory democracy in the country and therefore urges all players to abide by the rules of the game.

“On the other hand, the Service implores law-abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses without fear. It assures them of protection and pledges to strengthen existing measures designed to achieve this objective,” the statement read.