Dr. Obadiah Mailafia has been in the news ever since he granted an interview to a Lagos-based radio station in which he made very grave allegations about the killings in Southern Kaduna. Two of his allegations were particularly weighty and most likely have been the reason behind his run-in with the law.     First, he had alleged that a serving governor of one of the northern states is a commander of Boko Haram. And, second, he claimed that Boko Haram plans to orchestrate a civil war in 2022.    Following his comments, the Department of State Services (DSS) invited him twice to its Jos office for questioning. And he honored the invitation on both occasions. But some interesting twists to the story happened after each visit to the DSS office that suggests that there might well be more to the faceoff than meets the eyes.    After the first visit, the DSS put out a statement claiming that Dr. Mailafia apologized wholeheartedly and profusely for his comments in the radio interview.   However, Dr. Mailafia said that the DSS statement was not true as he did not apologize, adding that he was standing by his interview comments and would not retract them. In his words, he said, "I did not apologize for inciting Nigerians to violence, I never admitted that I was inciting Nigerians or apologized. My name means a 'man of peace' and that's what I am."   He also insisted that his comments in the interview were not new, adding that he has always expressed them in his column. His seeming defiance must have prompted the DSS to invite him again for another round of questioning.    Before the second invitation, the DSS statement regarding the Dr. Mailafia case had read in part;    "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, afterward, announce to the world that he stood by his misguided eruption."    The statement also accused the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, of playing to the gallery and attempting to incite citizens to breach the peace in the country.    After the second visit to the DSS, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, did not only apologize for the comments but also disclosed that he got the information about a serving northern governor being a Boko Haram commander from Fulani traders in his local market—a rather ridiculing source of information for a man of his standing in the society.    But a discerning observer of the twists and turns in the case would readily detect that some things are not just adding up. He would be tempted to ask what changed between the first and second interrogation sessions that prompted Dr. Mailafia's volte-face. Did the DSS pressure or threaten Dr. Mailafia against his will, to retract his earlier statements and apologize for them? Could it possibly be that the DSS adopted intimidation tactics to hush Dr. Mailafia? These are many more are the unanswered questions around the case.    The questions become even more relevant because earlier this week, Dr. Mailafia resigned his appointment as a directing staff of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).    Although he cited his nagging conscience as the reason for his resignation and stated that nobody pressured him to resign, it still begs the question of whether the powers-that-be forced him out of the institute. This is even more so because media reports have emerged, after his resignation decision became public, indicating that the management of the institute had formally queried him over the radio interview.     Again, it is worth adding that a part of the DSS statement after Dr. Mailafia's first invitation had read;   "Mailafia, as a former Deputy Governor of the CBN and currently a Directing Staff at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, had unhindered access to government platforms, noting 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."   In between his run-in with the DSS, yet another twist to the case happened. The Police Headquarters invited him for yet another round of interrogation on the same controversial radio interview. Dr. Mailafia, however, refused to honor the police invitation and rather chose to approach the court to enforce his rights. The question would be, why did Dr. Mailafia decide not to honor the police invitation?    As things stand at the moment, it would appear like the last has not been heard of the face between Dr. Mailafia and security agents. It remains to be seen whether, indeed, there is more to the faceoff than meets the eyes as both sides continue to present different narratives to the case. 

Source: The Dr. Mailafia—DSS/Police Face-off: Is There More to It than Meets the Eye?