The Presidency has defended the invitation of former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr Obadiah Mailafia by the Department of State Services, DSS, over his recent comments on the Boko Haram insurgency.
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who made the defence on a Channels Television’s Politics Today programme Wednesday night, said the DSS took the right decision.
He said: “This is Nigeria, this is not Mali. When somebody claiming to be a responsible citizen makes such a claim as Obadiah Mailafia did, saying that a governor is a commander for Boko Haram and he shouldn’t be asked questions, so what kind of society do we want?”
According to him, people find it difficult to adhere to the laws of the country when they are compelled to be law-abiding in foreign nations.
“We are living in a country of people who will go to the UK and America and obey all the laws and in our country, when there is enforcement, they start crying… so, what is political about it?”
He also backed the increase in the fine for hate speech to N500,000, stressing that the current amount was still not enough to tackle the menace.
“As for the increase in the charge against hate speech, perhaps it’s the assessment of the minister.
“The N500,000 that was emplaced was not being respected, it was not effective in curtailing these things because somebody picking rumour and is going to the radio to announce that … come on, what are we dealing with?
“There has to be law enforcement in this country as it is happening with our citizens when they go outside the country,’’ Garba Shehu said.
Recall that Dr. Mailafia had on two occasions, been invited by the DSS over the statement and released.
On his first invitation, he was grilled for about six hours and released, thereafter, while on the second occasion, he spent just 40 minutes with the secret police before he was asked to go home.
