Exactly one year ago on September 11th 2020 at the height of the incessant harassment by the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force, the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a critic of the current administration Dr OBADIAH Mailafiya raised the alarm of death threat as follows: “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”.
There are very unassailable reasons to believe that the alarm he raised which was never investigated may be the harbinger of his sudden demise in Abuja on Sunday, argues the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria which is calling for an independent investigation on his death.
With the above preamble, the leading civil society group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN) and the SOUTHERN KADUNA PEOPLES UNION (SOKAPU) to jointly hire top-notch forensic investigation teams to independently probe the immediate and remote circumstances of the death of OBADIAH MAILAFIYA so as to ascertain the exact cause of the death of a man who since the past few years became the voice of truth against the powers- that -be and the champion of the PRINCIPLE OF RULE OF LAW IN NIGERIA.
In a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA regretted that Nigeria seems to have become the killer of her best citizens just as the Rights group said indeed persons who speak truth to power in the past six and half years have come under persistent attacks and pressure from forces embedded within the Nigerian Security Forces and the political class in charge of government at all levels to an extent that even the central ruling party – ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS has gone all out to try to sponsor many toxic, obnoxious and unconstitutional bills all aimed at curtailing the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter 4 of the Nigerian constitution. HURIWA confirmed that its officials have similarly being threatened by forces working for the federal government and the officials of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association that are being protected by officials working in the office of the President. “We call on the President to immediately fish out the bloodthirsty officials working in Aso-Rock who are issuing personal threats to human rights campaigners. The Rights group said it got many calls from the Presidency in the past few months warming our officials to stop causing distractions. Of truth, there are individuals in this government who do not wish their Principal President Muhammadu Buhari to quit on a high note but they are working to stain the image of the President and it looks like the President does not read the opinions of critical stakeholders who are interested in guiding the government to the path of legality and lawfulness “.
HURIWA expressed disappointment that months after the erstwhile Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria OBADIAH MAILAFIYA raised the alarm that government agents were after him, there was never any effort made in the direction of unravelling the forces who wanted him dead and he was overlooked and allowed to be wasted in such a callous manner and we are only being told that he died after a brief illness. HURIWA said there have been several such suspicious deaths that have been covered up such as the death of the Executive Secretary of National Examination Council in Minna Professor Obioma from Abia State whose suspected murder has been hidden from the public scrutiny.
The Rights group said the persistent attacks of political rivals by the current Federal government is the reason a lot of robust brains are migrating legally and on high demands to the United States of America, Canada and other Western Societies to pick up specialised jobs as University professors just as the Rights group Condemned the United Nations General Assembly and the Secretary-General of the United Nations for abandoning Nigerians in the hands of tyrants and a brutal dictatorship that does not tolerate a plurality of opinions and the security agents are adopting extralegal means including suspected gas poisoning. “The death of OBADIAH MAILAFIYA is highly suspicious and must be investigated “.
The Rights group noted that even the detained leader of the self-determination group – the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has just told the Court of law that he was physically tortured and his faeces used to smear on his face but unfortunately the United Nations has done nothing about the fact that a citizen faced illegal rendition and abduction from Kenya to Abuja against natural and international laws.
HURIWA said: “It is so unfortunate that the National Human Rights Commission is dead and buried and the security forces are simply playing football with the human rights of citizens. It is unfortunate that the National Assembly does not provide adequate oversight functions and has not sufficiently exercised its oversight responsibility for the different security forces which is why the Department of State Services keep invading houses of citizens, killing, maiming and destroying lives and property at will. The court of law has just justifiably slammed a well deserved N20 billion damages against the DSS for invading the Ibadan home of the leader of the Yoruba Nation self-determination group Mr Sunday Igboho in which his associate was murdered in cold blood.”
“In Owerri and other South East of Nigeria States, Amnesty International found out that there is credible evidence of over 1, 000 cases of extralegal killings by security operatives but the Federal government which has a policy of permitting extrajudicial killings by security operatives has done nothing to investigate these atrocities. Too many citizens are getting killed by State-sponsored assassination and executions. Nigeria has become officially a killer of good citizens. This must not be allowed to continue.”
