The Department of State Services (DSS) has described as fake news the claim by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Mailafia, that a governor from the north is the leader of the Boko Haram sect.
Mailafia was on Wednesday invited by the service to its office in Jos, the Plateau State capital, over the claim he made in an interview on a radio station in Abuja.
After his release from the DSS custody, Mailafia insisted he stood by his claims.
In a statement issued on Friday, DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, described the claim as fake news, saying it only lends credence to the service’s alert about desperate efforts by some notable personalities to cause a total breakdown of law and order.
According to the secret service, Mailafia as a directing staffer at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), has unrestricted access to security agencies.
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. This, he has agreed to be a grievous error on his part,” Afunanya said.
“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. This, he has agreed to be a grievous error on his part. It, however, suggests his mischief and determination to use the fake news he spewed to incite the people under his control.”
“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, afterwards, announce to the world that he stood by his misguided eruption.”
“The Service will not stand idly and watch disgruntled and aggrieved elements take laws into their hands and cause mayhem in the polity”, the statement read in parts.
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The service, however, warned that it will not stand idly and watch those it describes as disgruntled and aggrieved elements take laws into their hands and cause mayhem in the polity.
