Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, a former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2019 general elections, is dead. He was aged 64years.
Giving a vivid account of how Dr. Obadiah Mailafia lost the battle to a yet-to-be disclosed ailment, the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), through its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Isuwa Dogo, alleged conspiracy and lackadaisical attitude of medical personnel was responsible for the untimely death of the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
According to statement issued in this regard: ‘’The death of the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Gwagwalada, Abuja, this morning (Sunday) came to us as a great shock.
‘’Arising from various enquiries from Nigerians over the circumstances of his death, the Forum wishes to state as follows: That Dr Mailafia arrived Abuja last Sunday September 12, 2021 from Akure and was received at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by his wife.
‘’On arrival at home, the wife noticed he was not in the best of health conditions and seemed to be suffering from malaria. After three days of treatment without signs of improvement, he went to the CBN Hospital on Friday September 17, 2021 where he was shabbily treated. It took the intervention of a senior medic who immediately placed him on oxygen and admitted him.
‘’Dr Mailafia was later given the option of choosing three hospitals: Gwagwalada Hospital, National Hospital and EHA Clinics. The wife opted for the third choice. On arrival at the EHA Clinics, the wife was subjected to yet another moment of anxiety as it took a direct order from the top management of the hospital to accept him.
‘’After few hours of treatment, the EHA Clinics told the wife that it was expedient to transfer the former CBN Deputy Governor to Gwagwalada as the clinic was not fully equipped to handle the case.
‘’The wife opposed the decision and insisted that she was opposed to the idea of taking her husband to Gwagwalada. Mailafia’s wife only succumbed when the consultant assured her that nothing bad will happen to her husband.
‘’Yesterday, Saturday September 18, 2021, Dr Obadiah was transfered to Gwagwalada. On arrival, the doctor that was billed to attend to Dr Mailafia was not on duty. Even when an attempt was made by foreign health consultants to save the situation, the doctor on duty got angry and said he was not obligated to listen to any foreign consultants that had been brought into the matter with the sole purpose of ensuring nothing goes wrong.
‘’Wife of the former CBN Deputy Governor was asked to pay the sum of N600,000 as deposit even when it was a referral case, with accruing medical bill to be settled by the CBN. At a point, Dr Mailafia complained over his breathing problems and pleaded with the doctors to place him in a ventilator. The doctors flatly refused.
‘’Even after the doctors declared Dr. Mailafia dead, foreign consultants who were brought into the matter through Dr Mailafia’s son living abroad, had directed a family member who is a medical professional, with the wife of the CBN Deputy Governor, to mount pressure on the chest of Dr. Mailafia for resuscitation and thereafter place him on a life support.
‘’The doctors in Gwagwalada refused all entreaties by the family members of Dr Mailafia to follow the advice of the foreign consultants, insisting that they have already pronounced him dead. Even when the wife could feel the pulse of her husband, the doctor flatly declared there was nothing they could do since they had already pronounced him dead.
‘’While the above narration sums up the circumstances under which Dr Mailafia died, we still await the result of the actual cause of his death. As a nationalist and patriot that he was, Dr. Mailafia was completely dedicated to the emancipation of ethnic nationalities from the clutches of oppression.”
A renowned development economist and social critic, Obadiah died yesterday morning after a brief illness at the National Hospital Abuja.
Dr. Obadaiah Mailafia was born on December 24, 1956, in the Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, graduated top of his class at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1978 with a B.Sc. Honours Social Sciences degree (Politics, Economics, and Sociology) and had an M.Sc. from the same institution.
He joined partisan politics in 2018 and has consistently criticized the political and economic policies of government, seeking a reformation that would bring succor to the populace.
Mailafia was appointed deputy governor of CBN in 2005 from the African Development Bank, AfDB, where he served as the chief economist responsible for Strategic Planning and Corporate Reporting.
