Boko Haram: Soyinka Asks DSS, Why Turn Mailafia To ‘Target Of Serial Interrogations’ Instead Of Those Indicted?

Nigerian playwright, Wole Soyinka, has slammed the Department of State Services (DSS) for what he called ‘ostentatious pretence of investigative zeal’ over the incessant invitation of Obadiah Mailafia by the state security agency.

Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had been summoned several times by the DSS over his claim that a northern governor is a commander of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The DSS was reported to have grilled the ex-CBN chief for close to 13 hours during his last visit to its office.

Soyinka, in an opinion piece on Tuesday, warned the DSS to “ensure that he (Mailafia) meets with no accident” over his incessant invitation by the state security agency.

The Nobel laureate said rather than investigate those accused of threatening the peace of the nation, the DSS prefers to engage in persecution or pretend to be carrying out investigation.

Soyinka wrote, “Presumably, the ongoing ‘national security’ persecution of Obadiah Mailafia is a sign of national unity? I invite our marionettes to read deeply into history. Oh, excuse me, history has been banned from learning structures, so look not for history books! However, straightforward, first-hand testimonies abound, exposing structural flaws, deceits and conspiracies against this presumptive national edifice.

“They are perpetrated by highly placed servants of the state, some of whom have since risen to even higher national positions. I draw attention, for instance, to detailed revelations of plots against the nation, plots that resonate in the present. Such is the two-year old interview of a former ambassador to the Sudan, Bola Dada – The Punch Newspapers. Archives remain ever obliging. They avail us vivid material to decide whether or not a sinister script is being acted out today with copious libations from Nigerian blood.

“I think, in public interest, The Punch should re-run that interview, most especially in view of recent claims by a columnist in The Nation – Femi Abbas Sept. 4 — regarding how and by whom Nigeria was corralled into the OIC. When you abolish History in institutions, you open the gates wide for rampaging revisionism while the same gates are shut against a grasp, however tenuous, of why, for instance, a Mailafia becomes a target of serial interrogations and harassment, rather than those boldly named in his revelations. Is it he who constitutes a danger to the nation, or the indicted fanatics of unlimited impunity and callous disregard for humanity? Why the ostentatious pretence of investigative zeal? The man has told you where to look. Well, look in that direction and report back to us! In the meantime however, ensure that he meets with no accident!”