There were two attempts on my life over CBN governorship – Dr. Obadiah Mailafia

You were once tipped for the governorship of the CBN. The battle has since been won and lost but as a matter of pure public interest and curiosity, tell us what were the forces at work that did not make you become the CBN Governor? Like you, I read in the papers that I was […]

You were once tipped for the governorship of the CBN. The battle has since been won and lost but as a matter of pure public interest and curiosity, tell us what were the forces at work that did not make you become the CBN Governor?

Like you, I read in the papers that I was “being tipped” to take over as Governor of the Central Bank when it was clear that the term of the former incumbent would not be renewed.  “Being tipped” is one of those popular phrases in Nigeria that can either mean a lot or, in fact, nothing at all.  However, our people also say there is no smoke without fire. During those eventful days, some powerful people, including parliamentarians, had beaten a path to our humble home, telling me: “This thing is serious O; you better get ready” and all that.

I would be a hypocrite if I said I was not an interested party. I would have considered it an act of providential justice. I was removed from the CBN through an act of chicanery and mischief. There was a pernicious whispering campaign and highly ignominious innuendos. I nearly lost my life. But I shall always respect the CBN as a great national institution and would never do or say anything to bring it to disrepute. The CBN has some of the best concentration of talents this country can boast of.

As it turned out, someone else got the job. You have to know that, at the end, there can be only one Governor of the Central Bank at any time. I am grateful to the late President, Umaru Musa Yar’adua, for even considering me seriously as a candidate in the first place. I have to thank him for something else that is even more important. Immediately after I was illegally shunted out in March 2007, there were at least two assassination attempts on my life. There were people who thought I knew too much about their fraudulent activities and would sooner or later, go around singing about it like a canary that has drank sugar water — which I was not about to do! Idang, you would not believe how dangerous and diabolical some of these people are.

I am not entirely surprised because where there is money and power all mixed together, the devil is bound to be lurking somewhere in the corner. It was the late President who contacted the suspects and warned them that if anything happened to me they would have to answer for it. It was only then that they backed off.

Just before my illegal removal, I represented the Governor at the final CBN football tournament which took place on a Saturday in Ibadan. I decided to go with my family because our two sons were on vacation then. We also had a young friend who was visiting Nigeria for the first time — the daughter of our English family friends. After dinner, my two sons collapsed while our young English friend suffered a mild stomach upset.

The CBN operatives seemed to know exactly which hospital they should be admitted in. When we arrived at the clinic, the doctors tried to persuade us to go back to our hotel and leave the boys in their care. My poor wife smelt a rat and refused to budge. At 2.00 am, the younger one started panting for life. His eyeballs were turning completely white as his body felt as cold as ice. It turned out the doctors did not really put drip on him, but merely tied the needle to his hand while all the drip was flowing into his back and wetting the bed. It is clear that if we had left as the doctors had insisted, we would never have come to find our sons alive the next day.

On the benefit of hindsight, I am convinced it was not a mere accident of food poisoning, but a calculated, evil scheme.  Premier Hotel Ibadan still owes my family and I a real explanation and apology for what happened. The delegation they sent was not, and can never suffice.

After I was hounded out of the CBN, I was told an investigation panel was being set up to try to find even one fault on which to hang me professionally. They wasted public funds even travelling abroad under the pretext of investigating one human being called Mailafia. I was told that every single file I had ever worked on was microscopically scrutinised by a gaggle of  auditors. The chairman of the panel had the gumption to drive to my house unannounced and uninvited.

Welcoming him with as much grace as I could, he took a seat opposite me, and looking me straight in the face, declared with absolute cockiness: “Oga, we are investigating you o – they said you stole money”. The chap happened to be of the “Deeper Life” stock. A Bible happened to be lying by the side table in the sitting room where we were seated. I picked it up and asked, “What is this?” He replied, “It is a Bible”. I said, go ahead until kingdom come; you will never find anything against me”. And they never found anything incriminating against me.

Do not withhold anything. Tell me all about the intrigues during your CBN days which may shed light on why you never became the apex bank’s governor.

Then I suddenly went down with a strange illness. I suffered what appeared like two major strokes in the space of a year. Half of my body was paralysed from head to toe. My wife had to be feeding me like a child. While I was physically among the living, I knew –and knew that I knew — that my soul was 10,000 kilometres away. No hospital in the world could find a diagnosis.

While all this was going on, one evening in my bedroom, I was visited by a giant cobra, sizzling with ferocity as it charged towards me. No one will be able to describe how frightening this monster really is unless you have experienced it yourself. We are intellectuals and I have never wallowed in superstition.  To this day, I cannot tell you how God spared me from that cobra which was later killed. A dear friend, a renowned veterinarian, later told me that that specie is found only in Egypt. He determined that I would not have lasted 30 minutes if the monster had bitten me. Where medical science failed, Jehovah Rapha took over. Today, I am in perfect health, thank God Almighty. When you live in righteousness, no evil can harm you

I, and I am sure, many other Nigerians, are shocked by this revelation about the intrigues, invidious plots and all sorts of shenanigans that surround high profile appointments in our country in general and the battle that went on in the contest for the CBN governorship in particular in which you were sadly a victim.

Let me tell you more. I later got to know that even my tea had been poisoned during board meetings at the CBN.  I recalled one or two occasions when, having had a sound sleep at night, I still found myself dozing during official board meetings at 9.00 am. And it did not matter how many kola nuts I chewed or cups of coffee I drank. I felt completely drugged.  Such a thing had never happened to me before during all my professional life.

You must have had a very traumatic experience at the CBN once it became known that you were being considered for the topmost post in that organisation. Please accept my sympathy.

I mention these trials not to cause unnecessary sensation or to court anybody’s sympathy. I am, by nature, a fearless individual. May be that is part of the DNA I inherited from my warrior ancestors. My paternal grandfather, Baba Gambo Galadima Randa, of blessed memory, was a colonial police officer. The British often resorted to him whenever a riot got out of control. As it happens, I am also a believer in “the strenuous life” as described by one of America’s greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. We live only once and that life must be made meaningful by manly action in the real world. We have to be out there in the arena, fighting for what we believe, come rain, come shine.

Are you disappointed or bitter that you did not eventually become Governor of the CBN?

As for being Governor or not being Governor, it is neither here nor there. My teenage son reminded me during that occasion: “Daddy, you are a great man; and you must always remember that greatness is not dependent on titles”. That is more than enough for me, to be honest with you. At the end of the day, it is the Good Lord who decides who becomes what.

When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who initially was not in contention but was eventually appointed, I wrote to congratulate him and to wish him a happy and successful tenure. I also told him I was prepared to offer moral as well as practical support in anyway, should he ever wish such from my humble self. I meant it genuinely. And I have moved on with my life ever since.

There is much talk back home in Nigeria that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan should bring into top position of governance, sound technocrats like you. With your expertise, exposure and good breeding, you can conveniently serve in various ministries like Trade and Commerce, National Planning, Finance, Foreign Affairs, etc. Has anyone in the present Jonathan administration sounded you out for anything?

Well, my dear friend, Idang, where do I start to answer this rather delicate question of yours? I have to tell you a secret: I love this country too dearly; every corner of it; from Kaura Namoda to the marshes of Itsekiriland; from the hills of Ogbomoso to the rolling plains of Argungu and Katsina and Bornu and Adamawa. I have travelled the world, and I can tell you that no place gives me the goose bumps of love more than my motherland.

I once visited the Emir of Katsina. He took me to his own bedroom and we stayed there and chatted just the two of us. They say he reserves such treats only for Heads of State and fellow royals. Nigeria is my life. I also love all the tribes and religions of this great country. In a way, you could say all my life has been a preparation for leadership. I studied social sciences (Economics, Sociology and Politics) at Ahmadu Bello University, majoring in political science. I later studied economics at the Institut international d’administration publique (IIAP) in Paris, while also enrolled in the graduate programme in international law at the Sorbonne. I later completed a doctorate specialising in Economic Development in the United Kingdom. My professional career has all been in economics, finance and international trade. I am also a devoted student of political philosophy, with deep interests in classical Islamic political thought (Al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Sinna and Ibn Rushd)) and in the great Western libertarian thinkers (Locke, Rousseau, Russell, Hayek and Rawls).

You could also say I am an aspiring newspaper columnist and public intellectual. Every day of my life, I am obsessed about how ours could be turned into a great country – into an industrial-technological state of the first rank.  I would never be fulfilled with even being president of the World Bank if my own country is in such a mess. But I am not, unfortunately, the lobbying type and my temperament, for now at least, does not fit with the sharp elbowing tactics of electoral politics.  Public service is my life-calling, but not at any price.  I could never insist I must be given a position in the government as of right or under any circumstances.

 

In fact, let me ask you the question more frontally: if you are invited by the present administration to serve Nigeria, your country in any capacity, will you be willing to do so?

I would say it depends on what’s on offer, and the terms and conditions in which one would operate. If you are given a strategic role but do not have the space or wherewithal to fulfil it, then it’s a non-starter. While I am honest enough to say that public service is my true vocation and life-calling, I could easily just as well spend my best years peacefully here in Europe, with no one to haunt me or threaten my life. Even as I speak, my hands are full of all sorts of exciting projects for which I eagerly wake up every morning. I work for a group who cherish me and value my contributions.  I have a wonderful family. My father, in his nineties, still insists on fasting and praying for me. And my mother, in her seventies, remains a model of piety.  I am blessed beyond words. At the end of the day, does position really matter?

Trust’s ace columnist and pundit Mohammed Haruna, commented recently on a piece you did in your column in the Next newspaper in which you made some comments about the rioters who initiated the post election violence which claimed thousands of lives in the northern part of the country. His comments portray you as a hater of the Hausa-Fulani and Muslims. Many Nigerians including my humble self did not read the said column so the allegation was shocking to some of us who know you as a detribalised, easy-going, friend -of- all type of man. Tell us, what exactly did you say and are you a hater of the Hausa- Fulanis and if so, what is your grouse against them?

I thank you very much for this question. Mohammed Haruna is like an elder brother to me. In many ways, he is our benchmark as a writer and public intellectual. But I was taken aback by his remarks on what I wrote. He was saying, in effect, that Soyinka and myself are “Hausa-Fulani haters”.  He also went on to say that I called on Goodluck Jonathan to “deal a decisive blow on the North”. Haba, Yaya Mohammed! In that article, I was merely expressing my outrage against the outburst of killings following the elections.  What really irritated me was when some people tried to offer justifications for the murders by saying these things were “spontaneous” expressions of frustration. To me, murder is murder. You cannot rationalise away “spontaneous” murder as being any less of a crime than supposedly “deliberate” murder.

In the North, we have been living with this nonsense called “religious riots” for too long. The whole world is watching us. I live in Brussels right now and I can tell without a shade of doubt that every single killing in the North is fully registered throughout Europe, North America, Arabia, Asia and every corner of the world. One case that really gave me sleepless nights was the 2007 beheading of 27-year old ex-corper Oluwatoyin Olusesan. She was beheaded while supervising an Islamic Religious Knowledge paper at a secondary school in Gandu, Gombe State. Please note that she met this cruel fate in the hands of her own students who she was trying to prevent from cheating in that Islamic Religious paper! She was in her last week in the school and was billed to be married to her heartthrob in two weeks’ time in Abeokuta. I have never known this young woman, but I wept for Oluwatoyin as though she were my blood sister.

I have lived in North Africa and I can tell you that what we are doing here in Nigeria is something else altogether. It gives us such an awful image as a land of savages. We in the North must be prepared to talk about it honestly and sincerely.  With all due respect to “Yaya Mohammed”, as I call him, I am absolutely certain I speak better Hausa than him, a Nupe man. And he cannot claim to be more of a Northerner than myself. Like him, I have Christians and Muslims on both sides of the family. My Ninzam people in Sanga trace their ancestry from Zazzau. If I hate Hausa-Fulanis, it means I hate a part of my own identity. What I can tell you absolutely from my heart is that I will never compromise with murderers.  This nonsense in the North must stop.

You have been a consultant to many state governments in Nigeria. You have drawn up economic blueprint for a number of them to run their states. What social, political and economic blueprint would you draw for Jonathan if his government approaches you for one?

During the campaign hustings, Goodluck Jonathan promised to provide us with electricity, to create jobs and develop local industries. He has to live up to these promises. He should also realise that he is starting his new administration with a legitimacy crisis ab intio. The northern-most states of this country voted overwhelmingly for the opposition. Politically, his priority task should be to bring the country back together again and to heal the bitter divisions of the recent past.

In terms of immediate policy priorities, the focus has to be the economy. The new Economic Management Team (EMT) should be empowered to undertake far-reaching reforms in the key sectors of power and energy and infrastructure.  One thing he must know is that this country is not in short supply of ideas. Our biggest problem is implementation.  We’ve heard enough words but not enough action. We must walk the talk. And we must stop playing politics with as vital an issue as power and electricity. If we could tackle this one challenge effectively, this country would be a different place – it could enhance growth by over 60 percent.

Secondly, jobs. There are millions of our young people wandering the streets, many of them barely literate university “graduates”. We must offer them hope. Tackling the job crisis requires action at all tiers of government and cooperation with the private sector, organised business and civil society. Linked to this is his commitment to industrialisation. There was much talk of “import-substitution” recently which I consider unfortunate. I do not know if his advisers are reading from the same economic journals as the rest of us.  Instead of import-substitution, we should be talking of “export-oriented, agriculture-led industrialisation”.

Agriculture should be a priority because this is the principal occupation of nearly 70 percent of our people. Agricultural modernisation is key not only to agrarian transformation but for boosting rural incomes and the aggregate needed to absorb output from the modern industrial sector. There is also the question of structural diversification of the economy. The UAE were able to diversify away from petroleum dependence in a single decade. We must decide today that, in ten years’ time, petroleum should only dominate 50 percent of our foreign earnings.

I would also put a ban on the mass smuggling of substandard goods into our country. Trade bans are not advisable, but banning of massive importation of substandard products is within our rights under international trade law. I do not know what the Nigerian Standard Organisation is doing, but there are tons of industrial rubbish being dumped in this country every day. We need a Dora Akunyili for the manufacturing sector.

Also, many of the emerging economies will face increasing food deficits. We have the land and the manpower to produce food and other raw materials for exports. To boost our industrialisation, we should also subject these products to increasing levels of processing so as to enhance our place in the value chain. In terms of political policy, the President needs to seriously address the issues of law and order. Boko Haram should be tackled by a mixture of a carrot and stick approach. I can tell you that some of these people are not Nigerians. From Maitatsine to Boko Haram, true Nigerians will never kill each other with that kind of venom.

In terms of human development, I have become highly disillusioned with the poverty discourse. I do not think the outcomes from our poverty alleviation programmes are anywhere commensurate with the order of magnitude of resources invested. As a concept, “poverty reduction” is a double negative which is doomed never to work ab initio.

I have studied world development and the rise of Britain, Europe, North America, Japan, Korea and the newly-emerging economic powers. I can say without fear of contradiction that no country, in my humble opinion, has ever developed on the basis of a fixation with poverty. Poverty is the symptom, not the disease, as Nobel laureate Amartya would tell any statesman who cares to listen. The disease is illiteracy, disempowerment and lack of access to resources and key services. What we need is not to create more pork barrels but to invest heavily in infrastructures and vocational training and provision of support services. Nigerians are hardworking people. All they need is a little hand from government, and they are more than ready to do the rest for themselves.

We can also borrow a leaf from Brazil’s bolsa familia and “zero hunger programme” which took over 20 million people out of poverty in less than ten years by focusing on time-bound, carefully crafted social transfers. I recently met with Dr. Graziano da Silva, the Minister and Adviser to President Lula of Brazil who was in charge of the programme. He has just been elected the new Director-General of the Rome-based FAO to succeed Jacques Diouf of Senegal.

I believe we need to exercise a healthy dose of scepticism against some of the half-baked nostrums being bandied about by the international finance institutions, most of which are based on nothing more than mischievous intents. Nigeria is not Gambia or even Costa Rica. You cannot expect a country of 150 million, with such immense natural-resource endowments to flourish on the basis of developmentalism. Rather, we need a massive programme of industrialisation. We should build technological partnerships with a few countries such as China (in construction and infrastructures), India (in manufacturing) and Hungary (agricultural technology).

Thanks for this opportunity to rub mind with a great soul like you.

The pleasure is mine.