A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, has said he resigned as a directing staff of the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, because of the ‘ongoing genocide’ in his hometown and other parts of the country.
Mailafia is being investigated by the Department of State Services, and has also been invited for questioning by the police, after alleging that a governor of one of the Northern states was a commander of the Boko Haram terrorists.
He added that his resignation from NIPSS, a Federal Government think-thank institution, was also informed by his belief that the government was not doing anything to stop the killings.
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard, Mailafia said, “Let me make it clear that nobody asked me to resign.
“Nobody forced me to resign, but I resigned for two reasons. Number one, this is what I wrote that a genocide is going on in my hometown. Innocent people, including children and women are being killed but not only in my hometown, but throughout the country.
“In Daura where I grew up as a young man, in Katsina, Birnin-Gwari, Zamfara, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and it is even moving further South, innocent people are being killed.
“I cannot reconcile myself with that, working in an institution that is supposed to promote good public policies for the whole country.
“I find it difficult to operate in that environment and my conscience does not allow me to rest under this situation.”
Noting that the resignation was a matter of your conscience, he added, “In a situation where I don’t find that genuineness in finding a solution to these problems and nobody is facing up to the truth; we don’t want to tell ourselves the truth, so I cannot reconcile myself to that situation.
“I studied the environment and I discovered that I shall not be able to function properly in all good conscience in that environment.
“I studied the body language and the situation in which I found myself, and I felt it was better to leave that environment.”
Mailafia said his invitation by the DSS has not affected him in any way.
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