Court denies Mailafia’s request to stop police investigation

 Court denies Mailafia’s request to stop police investigation

By Emmanuel Awosika

A High Court in Jos has denied the request of former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, seeking the stoppage of Police investigations on him.

The Nigerian Police Force had extended an invitation to Mailafia after he made comments on a radio show that an unnamed Northern governor was a Boko Haram commander.

Mailafia had declined to honour the invitation, saying he was already undergoing investigation from the Department of State Security for the same issue.

His lawyer, Yakubu Bawa, who filed a suit on Mailafia, said the police invitation was “illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and ultra-vires his fundamental right”, as his client had honoured the DSS invitation over the same issue.

However, the court, in its ruling, dismissed Mailafia’s suit asking it to stop the Nigerian Police Force from conducting investigations on him.

According to the presiding judge, Justice Arum, the DSS possessed the right to investigate Mailafia if it felt that his statements concerned internal security as did the Police.

He ruled that the double invitation from the DSS and Police failed to amount to double jeopardy as suggested by the plaintiff’s lawyer.

After the ruling, Mr. Bawa told newsmen he would communicate the court’s judgement to his client to plan the next action.

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