The Department of State Services
(DSS) has described as fake news the claim by Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), that a governor from the north
is the leader of Boko Haram.
The secret police on Wednesday
invited Mailafia to its office in Jos, Plateau state capital, over the claim he
made while being interviewed on a radio station in Abuja on Monday.
Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman,
said in a statement that as a directing staffer at the National Institute for
Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Mailafia has unfettered access to
security agencies to “share the so-called information at his disposal”.
He added that Mailafia’s “outburst” gives credence to the DSS’s alert “about desperate efforts by some notable personalities to cause a total breakdown of law and order”.
The DSS said: “With latest
occurrences in the country, Nigerians may have no reason to doubt the Service’s
earlier pronouncement. Dr. Obadiah Mailafiya’s recent outburst aimed at playing
to the gallery and creating unnecessary tension is a confirmation of his
group’s desperation to breach the peace.
“Mailafiya, as a former Deputy
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and currently, a Directing Staff
at Nigeria’s foremost Policy Research Institute, the National Institute for
Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, has unhindered access to government
platforms. It is expected that he should be conversant with official
information management protocols.
“But regrettably, he chose to
cross the lines of decorum and conduct expected of a personality of his status.
It is disappointing that he never took advantage of these to reach any of the
security or related agencies to share the so-called information at his
disposal. This, he has agreed to be a grievous error on his part. It, however,
suggests his mischief and determination to use the fake news he spewed to
incite the people under his control.”
After his release from the
custody of the secret police, Mailafai said he stood by his claims.
But the DSS said, on the
contrary, Mailafia agreed that he erred and apologised.
“It is even more condemnable that
Mailafiya, who had profusely apologized during his visit to the Service’s
Plateau State Command for his ignoble statement, would, afterwards, announce to
the world that he stood by his misguided eruption,” it said.
The service warned that it “will
not stand idly and watch disgruntled and aggrieved elements take laws into
their hands and cause mayhem in the polity”.
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