Mailafia explains failure to honour DSS invitation

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, has explained that he did not honour the invitation by the Department of State Security (DSS) in Abuja yesterday because he was not properly served.

Speaking with journalists in Jos on behalf of the legal defence team, Mailafia’s lead counsel, Yakubu Bawa, said the invitation, which came as a photocopy, was being challenged in the court and that all relevant parties had been served.

Bawa, who is also the chairman of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Plateau State chapter, said: “It is sad to note and to our greatest shock and consternation, on August 21, 2020, another letter of invitation was served on Dr. Mailafia at his residence by the Nigeria Police Force through the office of the Deputy Inspector-General Force Criminal Investigation Department (DIG-FCID), Abuja requesting him to appear on Monday August 24, 2020 for interview.

“In the light of the above, as his legal defence team, we approached the High Court of Justice, Plateau State, and filed an action for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to personal liberty fair hearing and at the same time challenging the said invitation.”

Mailafia had granted an interview to a local FM radio station in Lagos on August 9, 2020 on issues relating to security of Nigeria. His interview focused on the incessant killings and ethnic cleansing in his homeland of southern Kaduna and nation-wide insecurity.

After the interview, the DSS invited him through his employer, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, to appear before the Command on August 12, 2020 for interview, investigation and interrogation.

Mailafia was also invited yesterday, but he didn’t honour the invitation as his legal team said such invitation was alien to Nigeria’s extant laws and procedures.