Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, on Monday, failed to honour the invitation issued by the Nigeria Police Force to Abuja.
According to available information, Dr. Mailafia failed to turn up at the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police Force Criminal Investigation Department.
The invitation was contained in a letter signed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Admin) Umar Sanda, on behalf of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police.
A source close to Mailafia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, drew the attention of ElombahNews to the letter.
The source wondered why the invitation shortly after he was twice interrogated by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Jos.
According to the letter, Mailafia is requested to be at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Complex, Garki Area 10, on Monday, August 24, 2020 by 11am.
The invitation, it was learnt, is not unconnected to the recent comment the former banker made during a live interview with a Lagos-based radio station.
In the interview, Mailafiya had alleged that an incumbent governor of a northern state is the leader of the Bioko Haram terrorists group.
He also spoke about the massacre by Fulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna.
He blamed the Federal and Kaduna State governments for doing too little or nothing to stem the growing insecurity in the region.
Consequent upon the interview, the Department of State Services had invited him twice for interrogation.
The police investigation is coming despite the separate investigation of DSS operatives.
Earlier in the day, Mailafia’s lawyer, Yakubu Bawa, while addressing journalists in Jos on Monday, faulted the police invitation.
He stated: “The service of the letter of invitation on Dr Mailafia by the Nigeria Police Force through the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police Force Criminal Investigation Department strange and alien to our extant laws and procedure.”
Bawa also said that it is critically imperative to state that the case the Nigeria Police Force claimed is an investigation where the name of Dr Obadiah Mailafia purportedly featured prominently can not be unconnected and unrelated with the case the DSS is investigating against him which borders on internal security.
He continued:
“It is sacrosanct to note also that the DSS is the only statutory body empowered by law to investigate alleged crime against internal security, not the Nigeria Police Force.
“Section 3 (a) of the security agency act eloquently stipulates this position and in consonance with the said provision, the DSS had assumed investigation into the matter.
“For the purpose of clarity and emphasis, the DSS is still investigating Dr Obadiah Mailafia in respect of the said matter.
“As a legal defence to Dr Obadiah Mailafia, we have carefully and meticulously analysed the letter of invitation served on him as well as the intention of the Nigeria Police Force as clearly stated in the said letter of invitation and upon which we immediately approached the high court of Justice Plateau State and filed an action for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and fair hearing as enshrined in our constitution.
“We have served the Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police Force Criminal Investigation Department and the signatory of the said letter of invitation, one DCP Omar Mamman Sanda, by sure substituted means through the Commissioner of Police Plateau State Command having obtained a court order to do so.
“We are praying the court to make a judicial pronouncement on the letter of invitation served on Dr Obadiah Mailafia.
“We are equally subjecting the invitation made by the office of the DIG Force Criminal Investigation Abuja to Mailafia to appear for an interview on Monday under judicial scrutiny.
“We strongly believe that it is significant to hear the decision of the court on these germane issues, and it is necessary also for the office of the DIG Force CID to wait for the judicial verdict in order to know whether it is appropriate and in tandem with our extant laws for the Nigeria Police Force to invite Dr Mailafia in the midst of an ongoing investigation by the DSS on a matter that is related to internal security.
“We are calling on the Inspector General of Police to allow justice and the rule of law prevail in this matter especially now that Dr Mailafia has filed an action in court in line with the tenets of the constitutional democracy, judicial system, principles of human rights and the doctrine of the rule of law.
“The Nigeria Police Force is required by law to hold on and refrain from inviting and requesting him to appear at DIG office Force CID Headquarters Abuja,” Bawa concluded.