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A Northern Governor As Commander Of Boko Haram? By Ozodinukwe Okenwa

August 16, 2020

Mailafia made it clear that he was not kidding by saying what he said. Yet what he said sounded more of an infantile prank than a serious submission by a serious character.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the last presidential poll, last year, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, dropped a bombshell recently that shocked some folks and baffled some more others. In an exclusive interview he granted the Lagos-based Nigeria Info 99.3FM's programme called "Morning Cross Fire" he had talked about terrorism, regular killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna and possible civil war. 

During the controversial interview he had declared that some repentant Boko Haram terrorists had told him confidentially that an incumbent northern governor was the commander of the mass-killing jihadist organization! That declaration must have sent alarm bells ringing loudly in power circles. He equally alleged that the notorious armed and dangerous sectarian group had infiltrated the southern part of the country with the aim of igniting a war.

His declaration went thus: "Some of us also have our intelligence networks. I have met with some of the bandits; we have met with some of their high commanders – one or two who have repented – they have sat down with us not once, not twice....They told us that one of the northern governors is the commander of Boko Haram in Nigeria....Boko Haram and the bandits are one and the same. They have a sophisticated network.....During this lockdown their planes were moving up and down as if there was no lockdown....They were moving ammunition, moving money, and distributing them across different parts of the country."

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An anonymous Northern sitting governor commanding Boko Haram? How? Why? What then is the role of the fugitive invincible Abubakar Shekau? Ordinary figure head or field commander? Or could it be that the Boko Haram elements had sponsored one of their own as governor who now leads them from the government house?

Mailafia made it clear that he was not kidding by saying what he said. Yet what he said sounded more of an infantile prank than a serious submission by a serious character.