A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, says Nigeria is going through the worst of times as a nation.
He also said the security situation in the nation during the era of the late military head of state, Sani Abacha, was better than the insecurity confronting Nigerians in the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
According to him, the Buhari government is the worst government Nigeria had since 1960.
Mailafia spoke on Wednesday while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme monitored by Freelanews.
He was reacting to the recent assassination attempt on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, by gunmen.
Freelanews had reported that Ortom narrowly escaped assassination on Saturday when herdsmen attacked him on his farm near Makurdi, the state capital.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mailafia said the people of the Middle Belt condemn the assault and are not afraid of those who carried out the assault.
He lamented that some forces empower some people from a part of the country with weapons to terrorise citizens.
Mailafia said, “This attempt on the life of an executive governor and incumbent of a state is an attempted attack on the entire people of the state. Those who are trying to do this wicked thing need to understand the implication of what they are trying to do.
“If the governor of a state cannot feel safe to go to his farm, how will the ordinary Benue people feel going to their farms? This is a very bad precedence. The circumstances in Borno are very different. Borno is a war zone, we’ve been living with these evil people for a while but what happened in Benue is totally different and diabolical. We don’t know what they are trying to do but this could affect the whole country.
“Benue people and the people of the Middle Belt will never ever accept this attempt on one of their sons. Nobody is afraid of these people but it is just that these people are given arms and allowed to move freely while the machetes that the ordinary people have are being dispossess from them, they are not even allowed to defend their homes and their families but we are glad that God saved the life of his Excellency, Governor Ortom.”
‘World powers want to destroy Nigeria’
Furthermore, the Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the last election said some world powers are bent on destroying Nigeria by inciting one part of the country against the other.
Mailafia said, “This is totally unprecedented. This is the worst time ever in the history of Nigeria. You can’t even compare with Abacha’s time; Abacha’s time was a golden era compare with what is happening. You think Abacha would have tolerated all these? You can’t travel on these roads, killings everywhere, destructions everywhere.
“World powers want to destroy Nigeria and what they have done is to come and meet some people and tell them, ‘You are born to rule’. There is an agenda (ex-President Olusegun) Obasanjo called Fulanisation and enforcement of one particular religion against the rest.
“The world powers encourage them and tell them, ‘We are behind you, go ahead’. They provide the weapons and some local people buy into that idea and they begin a campaign of genocide because if you carry a heavy weapon and go into the forests, go into the ancient Savannah, you kill people, you rape women, what are you? You are committing genocide against the unarmed and defenceless.”
‘Don’t go after Igboho, Nigerians have a right to defend themselves’
Mailafia said Nigerians have a right to defend themselves under the present security situation. He also warned security agencies not to hunt Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, well known as Sunday Igboho.
“Let me make this point clear. Under our constitution, under our laws and by the precepts of international laws, global ethics, natural justice and equity, the people who are about to die have a right to defend themselves, so they (security agencies) will be wise not to go after Igboho. They should leave that man alone; he is a hero of his people,” the ex-CBN deputy governor added.
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