Stop Making Reassuring Noises – Mailafia Tackles Army.
The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Mailafia, has severely warned the Nigerian Army to stop making reassuring noises and secure the release of students abducted from the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, on Friday.
Bandits, last Friday abducted the students few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the state.
However, Mailafia in his reaction noted that bandits must be treated as terrorists because they are enemies of the state.
The former Deputy CBN Governor made this known while speaking on Arise TV on Monday.
Mailafia said:
“My heart goes out to the parents who must be going through a traumatising, agonising time.”
“The security forces must do everything they can. We’ve heard some reassuring noises from the Army, saying that they have zeroed down on the exact location of the bandits and where the children are being held.”
“All those children must be brought back alive and brought back to their parents. This is not a time for braggadocio. This is not the time for machismo. This is the time to ensure that we bring them (the students) back safely.”
On the prospect of a negotiation with the bandits by the Governor Aminu Masari-led government, Mailafia said, “I don’t expect that the negotiations will be done in the open but a lot of underground work must be done and there must be enough inducement and enough of backups.”
He urged the Muhammadu Buhari-led government to reach out to countries like Russia and Israel for support to combat the terrorism and banditry in the country.
“I don’t know why we have not spoken to Russia. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has found a rigorous way of dealing with terrorists. Putin does not negotiate with terrorists. We should talk to Israel; we should talk to countries that have dealt with terrorism. We should talk to countries willing to help,” Mailafia stated.
